Willow
by lily-angel
Summary: Confrontation : An explanation due to Sora is given... Anger flares up among a Princess and her Advisor... the faerie Chosen learn of their destinies... *Chapter Eight Up!* Medieval Sorato, Takari, others to come
1. Discovery

I'm back!!! Not that you missed me or anything, huh? Moving overseas sucks, let me tell you that!! I have no clue what people are saying and school sucks even more now!!! Okay, anyway, I've been working on this since the 12 hour flight out of Atlanta and now it seems that it's time to post it. Sooner or later, I will get around to updating Sorry Doesn't Cut It and the rest of my unfinished stories. I just had to get this out!!  
Anyway, here is another medieval fic from me. This one's a Sorato, so just watch out!! There will also be more couples, as soon as all the characters get into the story.  
  
Ages--  
Matt - 17  
Tai - 17  
Mimi - 16  
Sora - 17  
  
..::--*--::..  
"Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes...just be an illusion." - Javan  
..::--*--::..  
  
..::--Willow--::..  
by: lily-angel  
  
An old voice, raspy and wiry with age, spoke softly, his voice echoing off of every corner in a somewhat large room: "Please, read the page."   
  
In contrast, a deep, young, husky voice full of power and intrigue, spoke next, reading an old page from the book:  
  
In years to come and those that have passed,  
Surrounded we will be by magick.  
All around us it is, but impossible to see,  
Our life force it is, claiming our souls.  
But those who dare to seek it,  
To use its awesome power,  
Shall succumb to the protectors.  
Few there are, but dangerous to mortals,  
They are the link to powers lost and not yet found  
With the powers that lay before us.  
  
"Yamato, tell me about this passage." The old, wrinkled man looked up with his squinted eyes. He looked as if one gust of wind could pull his loose skin off, as it was hanging like a limp flower over his ancient bones.  
  
"What about it?" The defiant voice came clearly from across the lavish and heavily adorned chamber. Books lined each walls, dust collecting on the heavy volumes. Tables, with large, yellow pages and even more books spread upon them were around the room, making it smell like wet dog.  
  
The person, however, from which the voice came, stuck out from the antiquated room like black and white. His golden hair was perfectly placed, his cerulean eyes gazing like stars around him. His air of prestige gave him control of the room, wandering eyes always finding their way to him. The expensive clothes that were draped upon his muscular figure were obviously those of a noble, or a prince. And how lucky was he that he was the latter.  
  
"It's a poem of some sort in a really old book that no one cares about." He yawned, just to show his boredom. "It doesn't matter, because magick doesn't exist. And neither do 'protectors' or whatever ugly beings that they may be."  
  
"Ah, but Yamato, my Prince, it is more then just a poem. It tells of a time when the people of this Earth believed that they were ruled by magick. And ruled by the protectors, who were not ugly beings at all. Beautiful, in fact. Faeries, they were. Women with extraordinary powers and abilities, able to understand the Earth's whims and wishes." The ancient tutor walked up beside the handsome prince and turned the page. "You see this? This is a faerie."  
  
Yamato almost gasped at the figure in the drawing. Her eyes were so fierce, yet she seemed so gentle. The golden locks on her head shined, even through the faint ink, and her radiance could be felt through the page.  
  
"But don't faeries have wings? I mean, aren't they little itty bitty people who run around sprinkling dust everywhere?" he asked in a soft voice, still staring at the picture.  
  
"A common misconception. Do not always believe what you hear. Faeries are the eternal protectors of your soul and life, the earth and the stars that surround us. They are the fates, my boy, and shall always be."  
  
Yamato looked at the man, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. This man was crazy, out of his mind! Faeries, what hocus-pocus. *He's probably trying to get me to do extra reading.* "You are crazy! Magick doesn't exist and neither do faeries!" He stood up, towering over the tutor. "Do not ever try to indulge me with untruths!!" he said in a commanding voice and stomped out of the room.  
  
..::--*--:..  
  
*How dare he? Bah, the old fool.* The young man, only recently turning seventeen years, walked through a colorful garden of roses until he came to an empty field.   
  
Looking around cautiously, and making sure no one else was here, he quickly ripped off his overcoats and other such things, until he was only left with a loose tunic, cotton shirt and trousers. His sword glittered at his waist, almost knowing what was coming next. Yamato stretched his arms out carefully, making sure he wouldn't injure himself. He set his hand on the sword and pulled it out of the sheath slowly, inspecting its surface with expert eyes.  
  
Gracefully, with the strides and movements of a tree swaying in the wind, he went through training exercises he had seen his father and the other knights practicing.  
  
*Soon, Matt, very soon, you will get your chance....* he shut his eyes tight for concentration.  
  
"Still not worried about the trials, are you, Matt?" A voice proclaimed.  
  
Surprised, Matt whirled around only to see his best friend, Taichi Yagami. He, too, had shed his proper clothing of a noble and had his sword drawn and ready. His wild brown hair was everywhere, yet only in one place at the same time. His piercing hazel eyes looked at his opponent with ambivalence, knowing that one of them would be hurt... but not knowing who.  
  
"You will lose, my friend. You will lose." Matt smirked, knowing that Tai had and is the best challenge he will ever have in the castle. Both of them had far surpassed their tutors years ago.  
  
"Are you so sure? Or shall we find out, Princess?" Tai smiled.  
  
"Princess!" Matt's anger quickly passed and he smiled, just like his friend. "You pig! How dare you insult me! Now I shall have to tell my mother and fix my hem!" he said in a squeaky voice.  
  
Tai doubled over in laughter and managed to say between breaths: "You sound just like Meems!"   
  
Matt almost started to laugh, but stopped immediately when he saw the figure coming towards them. "Uh-oh..." he whispered and stared at Tai, who was still laughing at his own joke, trying to get his attention to stop.  
  
"So, you think that sounds just like me?" A fierce female voice yelled from across the field. She walked briskly over to the two, her hands on her hips, definitely angry.  
  
"Meems!! I didn't mean... I swear that I was just... well, you see I.... it was just a... Matt was... and I... I didn't mean to.... didn't know you were there... just a simple joke... no harm done... I don't think you sound like that... no, you're very beautiful..." he stuttered as he slowly began to back away from the furious girl.  
  
"I thought you were my friend, Taichi! I didn't think you would be the kind of person that would insult your friends... especially me!" She pouted and looked at Tai like she was about to cry.  
  
The girl, Mimi Tachikawa, was only a year younger than her two best friends. She was tall and beautiful, long brunette hair always falling into place no matter what. Her big chestnut eyes could make anyone do anything to please her, but her somewhat conceited nature sometimes turned others away. If only they could see that sweet, sincere person she really was, maybe they would think twice about her. But then again, her noble blood and formal training in martial arts made her a person not to be reckoned with.  
  
"Taichi Yagami, do you really think I sound like that?" she asked, her eyes filling up with tears.  
  
"No! Mimi, I don't think you sound like that... never!" he said, still backing up with a panicked look on his face.  
  
"Are you sure?" she walked toward him, but stopped and yelped out in pain. "Ow!! Stupid rock... I think I broke my foot!" She sat down on the cool grass, pulled off her shoe, and examined her foot for any broken bones. "Ugh, that hurt so much!" She got up and brushed herself off.  
  
"Mimi..." Matt asked quietly, "are you okay?"  
  
"Yes, I'm... NO! I ruined my dress!" She pulled the skirt around so that they could see the huge mud spot on the back. "This was my favorite dress.... now I have to tell my mother and fix the hem..."  
  
Tai stifled a laugh as he remembered Matt's imitation. "Meems... do you need some help getting to the castle?"  
  
"No, you idiot! I think I can handle that! And Matt's mother told me that his father is looking for him in the hunting grounds and that we should take the horses and go find him." She was still pouting over her lost dress. She hung her head and headed towards the stables.  
  
"Well, are you coming?"  
  
Matt and Tai smiled at her, grabbed their loose articles of clothing and ran after her retreating figure.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Can we go home? I'm sweating like a pig, my legs hurt, and my dress is getting more and more ruined by the minute!!" Mimi whined into the trees of the forest.  
  
"It was your idea to come here, Meems. We have to find my father. He only comes looking for me himself when something is really important." Matt looked around the evergreen trees, looking for some sign of the King or his midnight black stallion.  
  
"Matt, I think we should stop for Mimi... uh, I mean, we should stop for the horses." He rubbed the back of his head and silently pleaded with Matt.  
  
"Alright. You two can stop here and water the horses. I, on the other hand, will continue to look for my father. I will be back soon." Matt turned the horse and started off in the direction they came from.  
  
_--- Half an hour later... ---_  
  
*Whoever thought of putting trees in a forest should die,* Matt thought as he swatted yet another bug off of himself. He had been sweating uncontrollably in the heat the forest had accumulated all during the day and now the afternoon sun was bearing down on his back.  
  
"Where the hell could Father..." he stopped short and listened to the silence of the forest. Only... it wasn't so silent anymore.  
  
"Who is that?" he wondered to himself.   
  
Far off in the distance, Matt could hear a beautiful voice singing a foreign song. Try as he might to understand, the words were just a garble, but none the less striking to him.  
  
"Ya!" he galloped the horse towards the sound and stopped suddenly and stared in awe in front of him.  
  
"When did this get here?"  
  
In the middle of a large clearing was a majestic willow tree. The leaves looked pure white and almost glittered in the sunlight. The tree was huge, looking archaic amidst the green grass. The branches were leaning down to the ground, making impossible to see what was under it. But he was sure that whoever was singing was under those branches.  
  
The beautiful voice came clearer and clearer as he slowly walked towards the giant willow. It was the largest tree in the forest, towering above the rest. Something in his mind was drawing him towards it, despite his better judgment. He wondered how he could have not noticed this tree before.  
  
"Hello?" he asked quietly. "Is someone there?"  
  
He strained, trying to here if there was a reply. He heard a few branches sway gently, possibly because of the gentle breeze. But the again...  
  
"Hello?" He wondered to himself why he was being so cautious. Whoever it was, they were trespassing. After all, he was a prince! "Whoever you are, you are trespassing on the private hunting grounds of his majesty the King. Show yourself!!"  
  
"Why, aren't you just the commanding one?" he heard a sweet female voice reply. He heard a soft giggle as he walked under the sweeping branches of the willow.  
  
"Who are you? Show yourself!!" Matt was becoming to get angry. Whoever this girl was, she was purposely messing with his mind. "This is not a request!"  
  
"Well, I am truly sorry, oh confused one," she giggled again, "but that does not seem to fall in with my schedule. Maybe if you were to check with my nanny, she could set up a better time..."  
  
"Listen you! I don't care who you are, but if you do not show yourself and give a good reason why you are trespassing on my family's property, then you shall be arrested!!" he yelled into the branches, not knowing exactly where she was.  
  
"YOUR family's? Ah, so you must be the famous Prince Yamato Ishida then. Pleasure to meet you." He saw a branch sway and looked there. "I am Princess Takenouchi. I think my last name will be sufficient for right now."  
  
Matt was silent as he looked on at the princess. She was about his age, maybe a little younger. There was no doubt in his mind that she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Even though it was apparent she hadn't had proper grooming in a while, she was neat and tidy, her hair pulled into a loose ponytail, almost glowing a fiery red. Her dress, (if you could call it one) wasn't anything like the huge, clumsy gowns princesses usually wore. This was more comfortable looking, the hem falling to only above her knees and hanging loosely around her body. It was snow white and made her look like an angel. The only thing that made her look like a princess was the small silver tiara on top of her beautiful auburn hair.  
  
"Cat got your tongue?" she giggled once more.  
  
Matt stared some more and finally shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Princess? I doubt it. The only royal family within a week's ride of this place is the Motymias. The name Takenouchi doesn't even exist!! There are no other families around here with that name."  
  
"Yes, yes, and blahblahblah, I have heard all of this before. There are times I wish I wasn't stuck here because of people's ignorance..." she mumbled to herself. "Please, my Prince," she said sarcastically, "sit down. I only wish to have a conversation with another person. I haven't done so in a while."  
  
Matt stood still for a moment, his hand lying gently on the hilt of his sword. 'What hurt could it do? She may or may not be a princess, and you need some more information out of her before you can find that out for yourself.' He took his hand off of his sword and walked cautiously towards her.  
  
"Oh, are you afraid of me? Why would I want to hurt you, my Prince? All I want is to have a conversation with another competent human being, but if that is too complicated, I could always go away."  
  
"No, no. I am sorry, but this is confusing me. You are trespassing, but it seems like you know all that, don't you?"  
  
"How can I be trespassing when I am only in my home?" She looked at him, a small smirk on her face.  
  
"Your home? But this is only a willow tree. How can you live here? There's no house or shelter or anything like that..." He looked around, the only thing he was able to see being the thick willow branches leaning down on the ground.  
  
"Some people can be so shallow. There are other ways I can live without a house and such." She sighed and leaned closer to where Matt was standing, all without getting off of the branch. "Do you believe in magick, my Prince?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Of course not, do you think I am mad!?"  
  
"Then you do not believe in me..." she whispered.  
  
"What are you..." he started.  
  
"Yamato! Matt!" faint shouts in the distance yelled.  
  
Matt turned around and thought about yelling back. He stayed silent and turned back to the girl. "Looks like they found me."  
  
"Looks that way, huh?" She smiled, and stood up gracefully on the tree branch. "May we meet again, Yamato." She turned and jumped up to a higher branch... and disappeared.  
  
"What the... ?" he wondered aloud, but the told himself he shouldn't question it. This girl.. whoever she was... he had to know more about her; she intrigued him. He turned, parted the tree branches and walked out towards his friends.  
  
Mimi saw him first and ran towards him. "What were you doing, Matt?! We've been looking for you for like 15 minutes!! Your father came out and said he had to tell you something really important and stomped off when we told him we had lost you."  
  
"He looked like he was going to kill us!! He said something about Motymias and then he just left. I was so scared!!" Tai blurted out in one breath.  
  
"Yes, he said it was imperative that you go back to the palace as soon as possible." Mimi bent down, catching her breath. "And if you ever make me run like that again, Tai, I swear, you will die. I ruined my brand new shoes!!"  
  
"Aw, I'm so sorry," he said in a monotone. "I really didn't MEAN to ruin your shoes! It's not like you could just get others! I mean, those are your only pair of shoes, aside from the thousands in your closet and..."  
  
"Will you two just stop it and tell me exactly what my father said?" Matt said loudly and impatiently.  
  
Mimi and Tai looked at each other nervously and looked down at the ground.  
  
"Well?" Matt asked.  
  
"He said... he said that the engagement between you and Jun Motymia is complete."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
Well? Please review and read Sorry Doesn't Cut It!!!!   
  
yours truly and forever,  
lily-angel 


	2. Obsession

Second chapter!! I got this out really quickly, compared to how I usually work. I'm really proud of this story, but almost nobody else seems to like it as much as I do. Oh well, this chapter is for Silver Horizon and like, the other TWO people who reviewed. This time, if I don't get at least five or so, I don't know how inspired I could get....  
  
Anyway, the story is moving slowly (or slower than I usually work) and I still have like four or five characters that I still have to introduce. And if you want a certain couple, just put it in a review or e-mail or something and I might think about using it (cuz I'm lazy and running out of ideas!!!) So, I'll stop talking now and let you get on with the story....  
  
..::--*--::..  
"As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow." - A.C. Benson, From a College Window  
  
  
  
  
...---... Willow, Chapter Two: Obsession ...---...  
.-. by: lily-angel .-.  
  
"Ooh! I can't wait to meet him! Everybody says that he's sooooooo handsome and that he's the best in the whole kingdom with a sword and that he's slain four dragons and that he can play beautiful music and that he..."  
  
Prince Daisuke looked out of a window in the small riding carriage. For three hours, his sister had been rambling on about Prince Yamato. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. His mind was starting to go crazy. He couldn't wait until she married the Prince and got out of his life.  
  
"Jun, just shut up, alright?! We'll be there soon enough and you driving everybody crazy with your stupid list of what he can do is NOT going to help us get there any faster, okay?" Daisuke finally snapped. He ran his fingers through his indian red hair, an obvious sign he was annoyed.  
  
"Fine." And Jun looked out the window, staring at the green fields that they passed. She wasn't really that pretty, but she wasn't ugly, and had a look about her that made it plain to see that she always got what she wanted. When she had heard that one of her best friends was engaged to a handsome duke in Odaiba, she begged her parents to get her engaged to a prince. Then, yesterday, that had heard that the Ishidas had accepted the offer and were expecting them soon to finalize the arrangement. "I won't say anything about how handsome or smart or anything that he is."  
  
Outside, the driver of the carriage sighed happily.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
That night, Yamato stirred in his bed. He couldn't sleep, he hadn't eaten dinner, and there was only one thing on his mind.  
  
That girl.  
  
He didn't know her first name or anything about where she had come from, but she was there. He could hear her voice and see her beautiful face in his mind. He didn't know her at all, but he felt as if she had been in his life forever.  
  
"I wonder what her name is? Could it be something common, like Ashley, or flowing, like Marina? What about Sarah? Or Lindsay?" He shook his head every time, knowing that none of these names fit her. It would be a beautiful name for her striking appearance.  
  
He threw off the sheets, sweating under them. He had no shirt on, showing his muscular figure. His loose pants were too long and too baggy for him, so of course they were comfortable. He swung his legs off of the bed and touched his bare feet to the floor.  
  
The biting cold of the stone woke him up. Then, he remembered, with a chill down his spine, what had happened earlier that day.  
  
"Aw, shit. I'm getting married to the Motymia girl." He slapped himself mentally for forgetting such a terrifying thing as that. The last time he had seen her was four years ago and she had hung all over him, calling him honeycheeks and other such things. She had yelled at Tai's little sister, who was only nine at the time, to stop seducing her man. He shuddered at the memory and recalled what his mother and father had said.  
  
---Earlier that day...---  
  
"Matt, you know that you're seventeen now. That's how old I was when I got married and started a family. We... your mother and I think that it's time for you to settle down with a nice girl and start training for the day when you will be king." He father looked proudly upon his eldest son.  
  
"No, you have to be kidding. You are kidding, right?" Matt looked helplessly at his parents. Tai and Mimi were right about what they had said.  
  
"Her name is Jun Motymia. She's the King Motymia's daughter. They are on their way right now and should be here in the castle by daybreak two days from now." His mother looked nervously at her husband. "and we hope that the two of you can get reacquainted and get married soon. In a month's time or so."  
  
"I... what... no... what about the trials? The trials are in a month! If I'm married, I can't compete. Father..." Matt started.  
  
"A king does not have to prove his worthiness, so therefore, you will not be competing. My word is final, you and Jun are to be married."  
  
---*---  
  
Yamato ran his fingers through his now imperfect hair. He looked out the window of his bed chamber and stared at the white summer moon. Things always had to happen in threes: the strange and intriguing girl in the forest, his engagement to Jun Motymia, and his denial of the trials. What next? His little brother Takeru falling in love with Tai's little sister?  
  
Matt shook his head and told himself that TK knew he was too young to be falling in love with women already.  
  
At least, he hoped he did.  
  
He paced around his room, contemplating the events of the day. Something had to be done before his life turned into a typhoon of unpredictability. Sighing, he slipped into the now invitingly warm sheets and pulled them around himself.  
  
Softly, he sat awake in bed thinking about the one and only thing that came to his mind:  
  
His angel.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
Matt woke up the next day, his head groggy from his late night, staying up thinking about the girl. He knew he had to be insane, but there was something about her that he didn't understand... couldn't get. And the fact that there was a woman out there that he didn't get scared him. He had to figure out what this girl was doing to invade his mind so completely.  
  
He jumped out of bed and threw on a loose shirt and shoes. He grabbed his sword, flung open the door, and hastily tied the sheath around his waist on his way down the winding stairs and hallways. Quietly, making sure neither his parents nor Takeru saw him, he slipped out of the castle and into the stables, throwing a bridle onto his white mare, Starlight.  
  
"C'mon, girl, let's go for a ride," he said, slipping himself up onto her bare back.  
  
Swift as the blowing wind, Matt and Starlight rode into the forest, following Matt's instinct. He kept his eyes open for the glittering willow. The breeze gently blew his hair around him and for once, he didn't feel held back by the restraints of royal life. The rules and guidelines of being of noble blood that prevented him from doing many of the things he enjoyed, one of them being riding a horse for no apparent reason in the early morning light. The peasants, at least, weren't forced into marriage.   
  
He looked up around him, the hushed forest bringing him peace. Someday, somehow, he would figure out this chaos and claim his life back. But for now, the sweet silence of nature was enough for him.  
  
Then, he spotted it. It looked just as astonishing as he remembered and shimmered in the light as he moved closer to it. The gentle woodland air swayed the branches back and forth, dancing a sweet ballet with the willow.   
  
"Here you go, girl." He got off of the loyal horse and took her bridle off, letting her roam and graze in the clearing freely. "Now for the mystery..."  
  
He walked towards the tree, hoping that the girl, this Princess Takenouchi, would still be there. He was surprised to find, that not only could he hear her voice, but another! He stopped just short of moving the drape of branches and listened.   
  
"He's a mortal, a prince of the people we're sworn to protect! You can't go flouncing around with him like it's some joy ride! The council will not approve!" This first voice was male, as far as Matt could tell. He didn't recognize it as anyone he knew.  
  
"The council said that we should be kinder to the mortals, understand them and how their political systems work! Don't use the council as an excuse for something you don't approve of! Prince Ishida is one way of finding out about the Motymias' plan, so don't say it's flouncing!" The second voice reminded him of soft wind chimes; it was the princess. He tiptoed closer to the curtain of the willow, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two.   
  
"Princess Sora," *So that's her name...* Matt thought, "I know the council will agree with trying to understand the mortals, but you know as well as I do that falling in love with one is unacceptable," the man said, his voice dripping with jealousy.  
  
"Jyou..." Sora started, but was cut off.  
  
"Not now, Sora. I'm needed back in the city and you've got a visitor outside," Matt's eyes went wide and he backed as quietly away from the tree, but he could still hear the conversation. "Remember, Sora, you're bound to the magick. Don't risk it."  
  
Matt turned on his heel and ran, as fast as he could, to the cover of the trees. This was so much to take in at once. *It can't be... it's not real...* he mind was repeating inside over and over again. But he knew it was true. She wasn't real... or at least, his vision of real. She was... she was...  
  
A faerie.  
  
Matt stopped and stood, wringing his hands together nervously. So the girl that had invaded his thoughts was a... faerie. Okay, he could handle that... almost. But, was everything else true? Was she just using him to find out about the Motymias? And what of the other man? Was what he said true also? Was she falling in love with him?  
  
It was too early to tell, but Matt knew that he had just stumbled upon something that had been kept secret for centuries.  
  
*Curse me and my Ishida luck!*  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Um... Gennai?" Matt looked nervously around the room. This was a first. He actually wanted to see that stupid book again. "Sir Gennai, are you in here?" he asked, nervous but commanding.  
  
"Yes, my Prince. Is there something I can help you with?" The old man waddled out, his hands behind his back, smiling cheerfully.  
  
"Um, yes." Matt shook his head and tried to regain his composure. "I would like to take that book with me. The one I read yesterday." H shifted his weight uncomfortably, knowing Gennai could tell something was going on.  
  
"Book? You would like a..."  
  
"Yes! I would like that book! Please, Gennai, I don't have time for games!" *There... that's better.*  
  
Gennai turned around and walked to one of the many bookshelves. He pulled out one obviously old and used volume and handed in to the prince. "There you are, my Prince."  
  
"Thank you, Gennai," he said, turning to walk away.  
  
"But, my Prince, I thought you didn't believe in untruths," Gennai commented, smiling.  
  
Matt stopped for a brief moment, then walked out the door, holding the book in his hand.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"He's reading! He's just sitting there, reading, without Gennai or his mother over his shoulder! Something must be bothering him, Meems." Tai looked up at the girl on his shoulders, her dress so long it fell behind his neck. He could smell her flowery perfume...  
  
"Or not. He could just be trying to find something." She moved closer to the tree, trying to see their friend better. "I can't tell what the book says. All I see is a picture of a willow tree..."  
  
"Try harder, Mimi! You're starting to hurt my shoulders!! Why don't you climb up into the tree?"  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"(Each faerie has a home in the mortal world. It takes the shape of a willow tree, tall and majestic. The faerie can, from there, call upon the Earth to generate a portal to the City of Lights, Mendai, the home of the faeries)," Matt read softly. He looked up at the clouds and knew that this was all true. He had... a feeling. The only way he could describe it was just a feeling. He was never one to believe in fate or destiny or 'feelings', but, then again, he never believed in magick before today.  
  
He looked down at the page and continued reading: "(The faerie is magickally bound to the willow. She cannot leave it, nor and they break it. Until eternal death are they together or until abandonment.)"  
  
"Abandonment?" he whispered to himself. He read on, trying to figure out this stunning girl named Sora.  
  
"(A faerie has one choice if they wish to forever leave the circle. The vile of life, the Mendai star, hangs around each of their necks. All they have to do is to take it off. Give it to a human, and they will be free of magick and their willow. But the choice cannot be taken back. Magick does not forgive, until death.)"  
  
"Whoa, harsh," he said to himself. He started to turn the page, but stopped when he heard a noise behind him. He slammed the book on the log he was sitting on and drew his sword, walking towards the place.  
  
"I know you're there, Tai. Come out now before I get mad!" he said, commanding. "What gives you the right to watch me like that?!"  
  
"Um, hi, Matt. How are you this glorious evening?" he heard Tai say from behind the tree. "I would come out right now, but we have a problem..."  
  
"We?" Matt asked, putting his sword back in his sheath. "Who's we?"  
  
"Me and Mimi. She's.... uh... stuck." Tai said, trying not to laugh.  
  
"Taichi Yagami, I can hear you down there!! It's your fault I'm stuck up here! You get me down now before I tell your father what happened to Hikari's journal!" Mimi screamed.  
  
"You wouldn't!"   
  
"I would! GET ME DOWN!!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Okay, okay. Matt can you help me?" Tai asked.  
  
"Yes, but how did she get stuck up there? Can't she just climb back down?" Matt said, walking over to the two.  
  
"No! Do you know how far it is from up here! I'll kill myself!!!"  
  
"That wouldn't be too bad..." Tai whispered.  
  
"What did you say, Tai?!" Mimi asked angrily.  
  
"Nothing! Now, let's get you down. I'll help you down to this low branch and then you jump and Matt will catch you, okay?" Tai said, grabbing a branch and hoisting himself up.  
  
"Okay..." Mimi said quietly and scared.  
  
"Here, Mimi, grab my hand."  
  
Mimi reached her hand out, gripping as hard as she could with her other onto the branch she was leaning on. She held his hand and then Tai pulled her down to the branch he was on.  
  
"Don't fall, Meems!" Tai said jokingly, letting go of her hand.  
  
"Taichi Yagami!!!" she screamed, grabbing onto the branch before her feet fell off. "I'm going to kill you!!"  
  
And Matt just stood there and laughed at the pair.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
A young blonde boy walked down the halls of the dark, desolate castle. He looked nervously behind him and in front of him, as if looking for someone who was following him. He was stepping lightly up the spiraling staircase, breathing slowly as if he was nervous.  
  
"Hikari...? Are you here?" he hoarsely whispered.  
  
In the darkness of the room, a single candle flickered. Behind it, a small figure could be seen, kneeling with her hands keeping the wind from blowing the candle out.  
  
"Takeru! You came!" She got up and hugged the boy.  
  
"Of course I came, Kari. Why wouldn't I?" He wrapped his arms around her, feeling the cold that she was. "How long have you been up here? You said midnight, and it is now. I didn't make you wait, did I?"  
  
"No! I just... I just came earlier. I didn't know it was so cold up here." She involuntarily shuddered and Takeru hugged her closer to him.  
  
"Kari, why did we need to be up here? I could've met you somewhere else where it was warm and you wouldn't freeze. You're going to get sick again!" He held his friend close to him, trying to warm up her cold body.  
  
"I know. I just wanted you to see something I found the other day." She walked over to a corner and opened a dusty, overlooked trunk there. She pulled out a thin book and sat down near a window, where she could read in the moonlight.  
  
Takeru walked over to her and sat down next to his best friend. If they were caught up here alone by her brother Tai, or by his brother Matt... he didn't want to think what would happen. Both of them were overprotective of the two's friendship. They didn't like to think of what would happen if they were more than that. TK looked over at Kari and smiled. She was very beautiful and smart and kind and loving and sweet and... well, he could think of a lot of things. But, he kept his silence for the sake of their friendship.  
  
"Kari, what did you want to..." he started to ask.  
  
Kari flipped through the empty pages until she came to one with an elaborate and colorful picture She held it up in the light for him to see. "Look."  
  
Takeru was astounded by what he saw... he couldn't say anything. The picture showed twelve people, each with a monster or something standing next to them. There was a large pillar of something (that was the only name he could think for it) behind the twelve of them.  
  
"Now, I know that this is me, and you, and Matt and Tai and Mimi," she said, pointing to five of the figures. "And that looks sorta like Prince Daisuke. But I can't figure the other six. I've never seen them before."  
  
TK stared at the picture. This book had to be at least fifty years old. How could someone have drawn people who look just like them fifty years ago? This had to be one bizarre coincidence!  
  
"I don't know, Kari. I don't know who they could be."  
  
And in the picture, a girl with fiery auburn hair stared back at him.  
  
..::--*--::..   
  
yours truly and forever,  
lily-angel 


	3. Revelations

Yes! I finally got this out. I know I should be working on some other story I've started and not finished... I'm so bad, I know!! But I swear, I will get those done, and this one, too!! Anywho, I didn't get any suggestions for couples, so probably a bunch of you are going to kill me when you read this chapter, but that's your deal. Sorry!   
  
To all the people who reviewed the last chapter, including Silver Horizon, m I k A t O, Insomniac Cat, insane-chick, and BlueWolf. Thanks! ^-^ Please read and review!  
  
..::--*--::..  
"One cannot weep for the entire world. It is beyond human strength. One must choose." - Jean Anouilh  
  
..::-- Willow, Chapter Three : Revelations --::..  
  
  
Takeru awoke and looked around the room he was in. It didn't look like his bedchamber. He couldn't see the twin swords on the wall from his father or his violet curtains. In fact, this room looked like a girl's.  
  
TK's eye's shot wide open and he looked down at his lap. There was Hikari, sleeping soundly, curled up under the think quilt with her head lying gently on his legs. His hand was intertwined with hers and he sighed as he watched her sleep.  
  
*Man, if Matt or Tai come in here, we're both screwed.*  
  
He knew he shouldn't have been in her room, but there was no way he was going to leave her in that freezing attic. They had spent the night talking over what the picture in the dusty, almost empty book could be. For hours, until the pale gray of dawn crept over the sky, he had been with his most beautiful friend. Then he had carried her down here to her room and passed out from the sleep deprivation.  
  
As she stirred lightly, Takeru smiled to himself. She was so stunning; he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Hikari Yagami... he would give up all he had for her.  
  
Her eyes fluttered open and for a confused moment, she sated at TK. But, her features softened and she smiled, squeezing his hand affectionally.  
  
"Good morning. To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" she asked, her sleepiness evident in her words.  
  
"Exhaustion," he answered simply.  
  
Hikari smirked and sat up slowly. She blinked a few times from sleep and turned around to face Takeru. "Thank you, Takeru. I know you had other things to do... like training or something, this morning. I shouldn't have been so selfish and kept you here."  
  
TK looked in shock at her. "You weren't selfish! I stayed here because I couldn't just sit there and watch you freeze. If you got sick again... I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. You're too important to this world, Kari, and I care too much about you to give you up..." he trailed off, realizing what he just said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um... nothing. It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He giggled nervously and then got up off of the bed. "Well, I better be going and let you change and go to breakfast... maybe there's some toast or something left. You never know with Tai and Matt's stomachs."  
  
Hikari laughed and Takeru sighed.   
  
*That was close.*  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
"Something's wrong. Something other than Jun. He hasn't talked since yesterday!" Tai whispered harshly to Mimi. "I don't know what it is."  
  
The two friends watched on as Yamato brushed down his favorite mare, Starlight, and gently pulled the bridle on her. Then they gazed on silently as he pulled himself up bareback and rode into the dense Odaiba forest.  
  
"You know what it looks like?" Mimi asked him.  
  
"No, what?"  
  
"It looks like he's fallen in love."  
  
Tai looked in confusion at the girl. "How would you know?"  
  
"He's distracted... he doesn't talk to us about it... he's gone out into the forest three times in the last three days... that's probably where she lives." Mimi faced Tai and smiled. "He's probably trying to figure out what to do about Jun. She's going to be here tomorrow."  
  
Tai stared down at the ground, a sudden realization in his mind. "If you know so much about falling in love, how do you know if you're in love or not?" he asked quietly.  
  
"Well, I guess if you think about the person all day and night, if you feel complete when you're around them, if you feel like your world's going to fall apart when they're not there, you can't wait to be alone with them, you thin they are the most wonderful and beautiful thing ever." She paused, looking at him. "Why Taichi?"  
  
He looked up and gazed at her graceful figure, leaning against the sturdy tree. Her hair fell in cascading waves around her striking face, full of confusion. He took two steps towards her so he was only a few inches from her.  
  
"Taichi..."  
  
"Don't... don't call me that," he said huskily.  
  
"Why not? That is your name," she replied.  
  
"Because I can't... I can't think of you just as a friend if you call me that. Just call me Tai, like everyone else," he said, looking into her beautiful eyes.  
  
"Taichi... you're scaring me. What's wrong? You look like you're going to break down." She slipped her hand into his, trying to comfort him, oblivious to the obvious.  
  
Tai just looked at her, a thousand and one scenarios running through his mind. After a few tense moments, he took his hand out of her grasp and put it gently on her cheek.  
  
"Meems, I'm so sorry," he whispered and then pressed his lips gently on hers.  
  
Overcome with shock, Mimi just stood there, her eyes closed and Tai's lips on hers, holding his hand on her cheek. Then after a second of him kissing her, and to Tai's surprise, she began kissing him back, pressing her lips harder on his. She opened her mouth to him, letting him explore and feel.  
  
Very slowly, not wanting this moment to end, Tai broke the kiss. He stared into Mimi's eyes, wondering what caused her to do that, but smiled when he saw her grin.  
  
"Took you long enough," she whispered, kissing him again.  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
After riding aimlessly through the forest with Starlight, the Prince looked across an all too familiar clearing and saw that tree... the home of the Princess. Carefully, he got off of her back and let her graze about, her bridle lying on the grass.  
  
"Thank you, my friend. Let's see if this goes according to plan." Matt walked silently and cautiously up to the royal willow, hoping to hear the voice of the faerie. He walked closer and closer to the tree, stopping suddenly.  
  
Yet again, Yamato heard another voice in the 'room' the willow's branches made. This time, it was a small boy's, no older than twelve, he'd guessed. Tiptoeing quietly, he came closer to the drape of white glittering leaves and branches, listening to the conversation.  
  
"...they are right, Sora. You have a wonderful voice, perfect for the princess of Mendai. I can see why Koushiro and Jyou hate to see you leave the city so often. We never see you anymore, your majesty," the boy was saying. He was articulate for someone his age.  
  
"Iori, flattery will get you nowhere. You know as well as I do that I have to be here. It is my job as guardian of this area." Matt heard her sigh, then continue. "If only that Prince Ishida wouldn't be so difficult..." Matt didn't hear the rest. He was to busy talking to himself.  
  
*Did she say I was difficult?! No one talks about me that way, especially when I'm listening!!* Matt stopped himself right before he pulled the branches away. *Calm down, Matt. It'll be okay. She's just... uneducated. Let's say that.*  
  
He leaned into the tree's thin limbs and eavesdropped once more on the conversation. "...must go, Princess. I will see you later, at the banquet in the Hall," the young boy, Iori, said.  
  
"Goodbye, my little Cody, I will see you there!" Sora said, calling after him even though he hadn't gone anywhere.  
  
Matt decided that this was the best time as any to go in. He took a deep breath, put his hand on his sword hilt (just in case) and moved the branches, expecting to see the two people. He stopped suddenly and stared.  
  
Nobody was there.  
  
He was sure they had to be somewhere. He looked all around the area, then went back outside the tree and looked around the clearing. Still no sign of the boy or Sora.  
  
"Well, shit!" he cursed as he walked back into the shade of the willow and sat down on the lowest branch.  
  
"That's not a nice word," a female voice chuckled from behind him. Matt stood up and whirled around, only to see the faerie that had overtaken his dreams.  
  
"You!" he breathed, gasping to himself. She smiled and sat down.  
  
"Of course it is. You were expecting someone else?" she giggled, the wind chime sound echoing in Yamato's mind. His mind clouded up once more, just as the night before, of images of her and her voice ringing in his heart. He shook his head and looked at the girl.  
  
"Well, so nice to see you again," he said, it sounding more sarcastic than he meant it to. "Princess."  
  
"Oh, so you believe me now? What a pleasant surprise." She looked carefully at him, analyzing his reaction. But, he stayed cool and calm, knowing exactly how to get what he wanted out of her.  
  
"Yes, yes. I have decided to be more open minded to things like that. Maybe you didn't come from around here... down the valley, maybe? Or north, there are many small kingdoms I don't know of... you could be a princess there..."  
  
Sora looked at him in disbelief. Was she really hearing correctly? Did he just say he was more open minded? Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all.  
  
"Yes, I come from a kingdom called Mendai. My mother is queen there. My father... is dead." She looked down at the ground, not wanting to remember that horrible night. "But anyway, about you, hmm, Prince Yamato? What is happening in the beautiful kingdom of Odaiba?"  
  
*It was all right! She is trying to get information out of me. She's not going to be that hard to get to bend...* "Princess, I still do not know your name. You are to me only Princess Takenouchi. If we are to talk as friends, I wish you would call me Matt... and your name..."  
  
"Sora. Sora Takenouchi." Yamato almost lost his cool. It sounded even more beautiful coming from her lips. *Concentrate!* He took a couple steps forward and stood in front of the branch and the princess.  
  
"Sora. That's so much better. A beautiful name, really. Beautiful..." he trailed off, staring into her crimson eyes as he stood in front of her. Why was this happening? This had never happened to him before! It's supposed to be the other way around. The girl was supposed to fall head over heels for him... this wasn't normal. What was it about her? There was something about her... not her magick or her ancestry or even her race... it was something else about her and her manner that attracted him to her so much.  
  
"Yoo-hoo! Anyone alive in there?" Sora asked as she waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Matt... you're scaring people."  
  
Matt blinked and shook his head. *I... I can't do this. This isn't right.* He stared at Sora, his ice cold eyes unforgiving. "I'm sorry, Sora. I have to... I have to go. Princess Motymia," he shuddered momentarily, "is supposed to be here tomorrow. I have to... prepare for her arrival." He turned quickly and walked towards the branches.  
  
"Don't you mean Jun?" Sora asked quietly, almost as if she was jealous.  
  
"Hell no!" Matt snapped. He turned around and faced the shocked faerie. "I'm sorry, it's just that... I can't stand her."  
  
"So why are you marrying her?"  
  
"How do you...?" he asked, looked at her quizzically.  
  
"I have my sources." she smiled and stood up on the branch. "Why would you get engaged to someone you can't stand?"  
  
"Hey, it wasn't my idea. My father thinks that it's time I settled down and started a family and trained for the day I am to be king." Matt asked himself why he was telling this to someone he barely knew. But then again, she was everything he thought about.  
  
"I wonder why Gennai... oops." She started, but finished as soon as she heard herself.  
  
"Gennai? Sir Gennai?! That's your source, isn't he?" Matt thought quickly, everything snapping into place. This wasn't just a coincidence. Gennai and Sora planned this all out.   
  
"That's why he had me read that book... that's why he told me about faeries... what was the plan, Sora? Why would you want a prince like myself to find out about your little world? Why would you let a secret that has been kept for centuries 'slip' now? Why me and why now?" Matt stared at the princess, waiting for an answer.  
  
"Damn it." Sora sat down and fiddled with a necklace hanging on her neck. Yamato squinted to see it: a simple silver oval shaped locket on a simple silver chain. "I knew that you'd figure it all out sooner or later." She motioned for him to site down and Yamato hesitated... but only for a second. "Let me explain."  
  
"Obviously, you know that I am Princess Sora Takenouchi of the faerie kingdom Mendai. Gennai is my loyal friend, and the highest member of our royal council. They handle all of the important decisions and the laws that all faeries have to abide by that deal with humans. He had to beg for years to let him leave and settle himself in the human kingdom. He is the only faerie who is not bound but still has his magick."  
  
Matt nodded, urging her to continue. He stayed silent, knowing that this wasn't easy for her to say.   
  
"There's a legend that has been passed down from generation to generation in faerie folklore." She motioned for him to follow her, and she jumped up to a branch, and down to another, behind the tree from where they had been. She lifted a veil-like moss off of the bark and revealed an elaborate story carved into the wood. She waved her hand in front of it, telling him to read it.  
  
-Chosen to live, Chosen to die.-  
-Chosen to save both worlds from the evil.-  
-The twelve will come from mortal and not,-  
-From the real and the magickal.-  
-Twelve Chosen Children,-  
-Twelve Chosen Partners.-  
-Together, they shall win over the dark,-  
-Courage, the fierce,-  
-Friendship, the cold,-  
-Love, the beautiful,-  
-Knowledge, the clever,-  
-Reliability, the strong,-  
-Sincerity, the sweet,-  
-Hope, the protector,-  
-Light, the angel,-  
-Kindness, the unknowing.-  
-The three others, double the crests:-  
-Friendship and Courage, brave and kind,-  
-Sincerity and Love, charming and zealous,-  
-Knowledge and Reliability, wise and trusting.-  
-Together, the Children and the Partners,-  
-Shall vanquish both worlds from the evil.-  
-And united,-  
-They will forever be.-  
-Prince of Friendship and-  
-Princess of Love,-  
-One of mortal, one of magick.-  
-Together they shall rule.-  
  
Yamato read with fascination and then looked up at the Princess sitting on a branch above him. "What does it mean?"  
  
"We don't know. That's what we want to figure out. Every faerie in our world can feel the dark presence, slowly overcoming the land. But none of us can tell what it is." She sighed and sat on a branch nearest to Matt. "That's why we wanted you to find out about us. Since a lot of this has to do with the mortal world, we had to find someone we could use to get information. And because of this quick move by the Motymias, we decided that the best person for that would be you. You have access to places that Gennai does not."  
  
Yamato turned away from her, staring up into the vast branches of the willow. "So, you're telling me that there's no other reason why I found about all of this other than you wanted information," he asked coldly.  
  
Sora looked down at her feet. "Yes. I'm sorry, Matt, if I could change it I would. It's just that...."  
  
"Stop." Matt cut her off. "You can't help what your royal duty has you do, just like I can't help that I have to marry Jun. I will help you. I'll see all that I can find out."  
  
Sora looked up at him, surprised. But his back was still turned towards her and she couldn't reach any farther to get him to turn around. "Thank you, Matt. I can't believe you will do this for someone you just met."  
  
*Neither can I.* "All I ask in return is that you be able to answer all of my questions. Not now, but later, I'm sure I'll have plenty." He turned around, his face cold as ice, but his eyes telling a different story.  
  
"Definitely!" Sora smiled and then looked him in the eyes seriously. "Soon, Gennai will contact you with information, as soon as I get it from Koushiro. Thank you so much, Yamato. This would be so much more difficult without your promise of help."  
  
"Who's Koushiro?" he asked, before he thought about it. *Damn it, now she's probably going to talk for ages about him...*  
  
"Our professor, if you want to call him that. He's the genius of the faerie world." She said quickly and simply. "Thank you, though. You don't know how much this means to me..."  
  
*Stop! Stop looking so beautiful...* "It's nothing," he muttered as he walked out of there, leaving a stunned look on the faerie Princess's face.  
  
*Please don't do anything to make me fall in love with you,* he begged her silently as he found Starlight's bridle and slipped it gently on her nose. *Please.*  
  
He slid gently onto the mare's back and rode off into the afternoon sun, preparing himself for the torture that would begin that next day. He shuddered at the thought, his spine trembling with unknown fear.  
  
Jun Motymia.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
  
  
always,  
*lily-angel* 


	4. Repulsions

Well, here's chapter four! I'm getting this out quickly, if you ask me. Like the other chapters this is dedicated to those who reviewed: Sweet-sorato, Lillyangel, m I k A t O, Silver Horizon (again!), kOorI cHaN, and Blue Wolf.  
  
Read and review! and if you want a certain couple, please tell me, I have no ideas and some people don't seem to like Tai and Mimi... I could always change that....  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,   
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."  
- William Congreve, "The Mourning Bride"  
  
..::-- Willow, Chapter Four : Repulsions --::..  
  
"Yamato, straighten your cloak. We want the Princess to just simply adore you!" his mother said as they sat, waiting in the throne room for the horror that was Jun Motymia to be escorted up.  
  
*Yeah, or just simply kill me...* Matt sighed as he shifted uncomfortably, and straightened his cloak over his shoulders.  
  
"Father, I still don't understand why..." he started.  
  
"So you will have a family and an heir for when you inherit this kingdom! That's why!" his father spit out at him. For the last hour, Matt has been trying to talk his father out of making him marry that... that... beast.  
  
*Sora, you better be damn grateful I'm doing this. For you.*  
  
"Ah, there's the coach now!" his mother said as she glanced out the huge glass window. "There's the Queen... and the King... and Prince Daisuke... and there she is, Matt! Princess Jun!" Yamato groaned as his mother cooed at the sight of his soon-to-be fiancé. "She's so pretty!"  
  
*Looks more like a horse that's been beaten their entire life...* he thought. *At least compared to Sora...* "No she's not. She looks like she got ran over by a carriage and..."  
  
"Enough! You will stay here, Yamato, while we go and welcome the Royals. We will bring Jun with us." His father stormed towards the door and then turned to his son. "You should get used to this. There is no changing it."  
  
Yamato slouched into his chair and folded his arms. *If they think they can make me do anything, they are seriously in trouble.  
  
He sat, for a few moments, trying to think of someway to escape this horror. He walked little by little to the window and glanced out it. There were his parents, her parents and her brother. But she was nowhere to be seen. He shook his head and looked at other things. The marketplace, the wooden houses just beyond that, his brother and Kari riding into the forest on a horse...  
  
His brother and Kari?!  
  
He glanced again and sure enough, there were the two fourteen year olds, sharing a horse, riding into the boundaries of the forest. He kept looking and saw how possessive Kari was of TK, holding herself close to him for comfort and safety.  
  
*Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on them...*  
  
"Yamato Ishida! There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" A young, brownish-red haired woman latched herself onto him and squeezed as hard as she could. "I can't wait till we get married!!"  
  
"Um, get off of me..." he said, realizing that this thing on him was Jun. The Jun. The monster Jun.  
  
"No! We're going, right now, to my room. We need to get better acquainted, don't you think?" she said, with a devious smirk on her face.  
  
"No. You need to go. That's what I think. Leave me alone." Matt threw her off of him and sat down in his throne. Jun got up as fast as she could and sat on his lap.  
  
"Do you know what I want for Christmas? You!" she said, moving her face towards his.  
  
Matt pushed her off of him and walked toward the door. "Just leave, Jun."  
  
"No, Mattie-kun! We're getting married!"  
  
Matt shrieked as she ran towards him. "Holy shit!" he yelled as he ran down the corridor, Jun close behind.  
  
"Yama-kun! I'm right here!" she said, catching him and hugging him as tightly as she could. "We're going to have seventeen kids and I'm going to name them..."  
  
"God, Jun, get off of me!" Matt pushed her into a wall, sprinting down the hall as fast as he could.  
  
*Need somewhere to hide... I NEED somewhere to hide...*  
  
"But Yama-kun, we were meant to be together! How can you deny our love when it is in both of our hearts?!" Jun whined and chanted as she ran after him, having a speed faster than she looked like she could possess.  
  
"No! Jun, stay!! Bad doggie. Sit. Roll over. Play dead!!! DOWN DOG!" Matt screamed in agony as Jun pounced on him, throwing him on the floor and promptly sitting on top of him.  
  
"Yama-kun, just sit still. We both know you want this."  
  
As she leaned in closer to him, Matt's mind made itself up. *If she doesn't get off of the Heir to the throne of Odaiba, she deserves to be hurt.* He reached carefully and pulled his sword out of his sheath and placed the cold metal blade on her throat.  
  
"Jun, get off of me, now. I will hurt you if you do not listen. I don't want to marry you, and I probably won't marry you, but for now we both have to deal with this." He slowly got up as she backed off, her eyes glistening with fear.  
  
"Yama-kun..."  
  
"Don't call me that." He put his sword back into its place and stared at the frightened girl in front of him. "I'm sorry, Jun, but I had to do it. Please don't follow me, I have personal business to take care of, but I will have to see you at the banquet tomorrow."  
  
Matt whirled around and headed down the cold hallway toward the stables. He closed his eyes, thinking how he could've better handled that.  
  
"Yama-kun! I love you!!" Jun yelled as she started down the hall after him.  
  
"Holy hell, woman! Just leave me alone!!" Matt ran for his life, hoping that the stables were very close.  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
"Tai, don't you think we should help him?" Mimi glanced out the window in time to see Yamato swinging a rather large stick at Jun, while backing up towards Starlight's stall.  
  
"Nah." Tai leaned against the windowsill next to her. "I think he can handle it." He watched in amusement as Matt's one true weakness was found: a psychopathic man-chaser.  
  
"Tai! He's our best friend! He obviously wants to go somewhere, because he's trying to get Starlight. Come on, Tai. Quit chuckling at his misfortune and help him!" Mimi pleaded with him.  
  
"Aw, Meems, how fun is that? Besides, he's on Starlight right now and is going through the castle gates." He pointed out the glass and sure enough, Yamato was galloping his way towards the dense forest, with Jun proclaiming their love behind him. "See?"  
  
Mimi just stared at him. "Why wouldn't you help him?" she asked softly.  
  
"Aw, Mimi. Don't get all sentimental about this, please? I just wanted to see what he was going to do. Besides, they're not getting married for a month, so I'll have plenty of time to save him from the wrath of Jun Motymia." He grinned at her. "Plus..." he trailed off.  
  
"Plus what?"  
  
"It's nothing... I just..." He grinned even more and wrapped his arms around her, pulling them close together. "I just wanted to do this," he whispered and kissed her softly.  
  
"That's not an excuse. I'm not complaining, but it's not an excuse for not helping your best friend!" she said.  
  
Tai pouted, giving her his best puppy eyes. "Please?"  
  
Mimi giggled and gazed at him. "I can't stand it when you get cute like that."  
  
"So that's a yes?" he said excitedly.  
  
"No. That's a 'I can't stand it when you get cute like that'." Mimi smiled and turned around and walked towards the door.  
  
"That doesn't even make sense! Hey. Hey! Hey, Mimi! Come back!" Tai ran after her, calling her name.  
  
*Curse that Ishida!* he thought sarcastically.  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
"Gennai... please. I can't do that, you know I can't. It's... it's impossible. What would I do?" Sora looked up at the gray sky and glanced up towards the palace.  
  
The Princess and her beloved friend were sitting, having a conversation, in the royal garden of Mendai. Wild flowers, with colors and varieties never seen by mortal eyes, bloomed year round, providing shade and a serene environment. The bluish-gray sky had no clouds to be seen, and the sun was silently slipping over the beautiful palace. It was a dull silver color, splashed with jewels of all shapes, colors, and sizes, and stained glass windows that depicted the eternal history of the faeries. There was no wall around it, as there was no one to protect it from, and the magick city of Mendai started right at the end of the palace lawns.  
  
Faeries of all colors could be seen, running, walking, strolling along; with parcels, shopping bags, groceries, books, scrolls, children, and several other items, going about their day-to-day lives. Sora smiled as she looked upon this world: her world. Her people. The life she loved with all of her heart.  
  
"Sora... my dear, dear Sora... you have to understand. If you do not try, there is no hope for our people. No hope for this beautiful city and the faeries that have existed here for eternity." He sighed and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "There is a way, Sora. You must find it."  
  
Sora sighed impatiently. "You say that every time, Gennai! 'You must find the way.' What does it mean? I've scoured all of the books in all of the libraries and there is no word anyway! How am I supposed to find the way if no one has done it? Why can't you tell me?" she begged and pleaded with her old companion.  
  
"Because it is different for any faerie. You have to find the way. It is in a book, yes, but in the kingdom of Mendai? Of that I am not sure."  
  
The old man slowly rose from the golden chair, and walked with his hands clasped behind his back towards the palace. "In the immortal world is not the secret to mortal life."  
  
Sora stared at his walking figure for a silent moment until it clicked in her mind. the only person with access to the book she so desperately needed.  
  
"Yamato."  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
"Mattie! Oh Yama-kun! Where are you? Come here, my soon-to-be husband, so we can get to know one another!" Jun yelled, while running into the expanses of the Odaiba forest.   
  
*Gotta get to the tree. Gotta get to the tree. Safe. Will be safe in the tree. Gotta get to the willow. Sora will help me.... I hope.* Matt galloped Starlight as fast as she could take it towards the now all-too-familiar clearing and the gigantic willow tree. The Princess was his only hope now. If she couldn't rid him of Jun, for at least a little while, then no one could.  
  
He took another sharp turn, hoping to lose Jun even more than he already had. He sighed as he looked forward and saw it.  
  
The twinkling leaves and the swaying branches of the willow tree.  
  
*YES!*  
  
Somehow, Starlight sensed his excitement and galloped faster than she was. Yamato stopped her right in front of the tree and hopped down off of the horse.  
  
"Sorry, girl. I hope she doesn't go after you," he whispered to the horse, petting her neck affectionately.   
  
"Yama-kun! There you are!" Jun came sprinting out of the forest, at an almost inhuman speed.  
  
"Gotta go!" he said to Starlight, and ran into the sweeping boughs of the tree.  
  
*Please don't let her be able to be in here... please don't let her be able to be in here...* he pleaded with himself.  
  
"This is an almost unexpected visit, Prince Ishida. To what do I owe it to?"  
  
Yamato closed his eyes softly at the familiar chiming voice. "Princess Sora. Again, we meet." He bowed gracefully, hoping he wasn't out-doing it. "Please, I beg of you, call me Matt."  
  
"Matt." She smiled and sat down on the branch. Yamato studied her gaze on the ground very carefully; trying to see why see was staring at it so intently. "Is there something I can help you with, Matt?" she asked softly.  
  
"Well.... actually..."  
  
"YAMA-KUN!! WHERE ARE YOU?!"  
  
"Yeah. She's... uh... been following me since this morning when she got here... and... uh... I can't get her to leave. I don't want to ask, I really don't... but I have to choice...."  
  
"Don't worry, Matt. She can't see or hear you when you are here. But I can't do anything to help you. I'm sorry." She looked up for a moment at him, smiled, then her gaze went back down to the ground.  
  
"Sora..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Yamato took a deep breath and walked over to her and knelt right in front of her, looking deep into her eyes. "What's wrong? Anything I can help with? Unless is a woman issue... or a faerie one. Can't help you with those."  
  
She smiled and Matt smiled back. "See? You shouldn't be so sad. You're much more beautiful smiling," he whispered, half to himself and half to her."  
  
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Yamato. But, as much as I hate to ask since you're doing so much for us already... but this is more a favor for me." She lifted her gaze and melted in his cerulean eyes. "I... I need for you to get me something. A book."  
  
"A book? Why do you want a book?" he asked curiously.  
  
"I'd rather not say. But I need a book and I have good reason to believe it's in your castle.... Do you think you could get it for me and bring it here?" She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn't say no.  
  
"Alright. Sounds easy enough. What's this book like? What's it called?"  
  
"Actually, it has no name. But it is very thin and looks like it's almost empty. Except for one picture of twelve children..."  
  
"The Chosen Children," Matt finished, remembering the legend he had read the other day.  
  
Sora nodded slowly. "I have to get this book. Please can you get it for me?"  
  
Yamato flashed his amazing smile and shook his head up and down vigorously. "Of course I will."  
  
Sora smiled and stood up, getting ready to leave. "Thank you, Matt. Thank you so much."  
  
She turned to go, and Matt held out his hand to her. "Wait, please," he asked softly. "I... never mind. I'll get you the book." He put his hand in his pockets and turned around and started on his way out of the willow tree.   
  
Sora smiled and hopped up onto another branch. "If things were different, Yamato. If only things were different." And then she was gone.  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
"S'cuse me! Pardon me! Move out of the way, please!" Yamato shouted as he ran through the crowded marketplace to the castle gates. "Please! Kingdom emergency on hand here! Move out of the way!"  
  
"Yama-kun! Where are you going?" Jun followed as best as she could, but the people and animals in the marketplace were blocking her path. "Yama! I'll be waiting right here for you!"  
  
Matt looked behind him for a brief second and smiled. *I've finally lost her!*  
  
"Hey, watch...!" a voice said.  
  
"Whoa!" Matt turned just in time to see a boy, about two or three years younger than him, try and run out of him way. "Oh shi....!"  
  
Matt tumbled and turned as he and the boy tripped over each other and landed in one of the stalls in the stables just outside the castle gates. Matt got up and proceeded to pick straw out of his hair, when he saw Jun running towards them.  
  
"Are you okay....?" the boy started, but Matt shoved him under the pile of straw.  
  
"If you value your life, just stay under here, okay?" Yamato whispered. "And be quiet."  
  
He felt the boy nod and sat, as still as a statue, hidden by the straw.  
  
"Yama-kun!" he heard soon. "Yamato, where are you? We have to go proclaim our love to my parents! Come on, Yama, we have to go!" Jun whined.  
  
Matt sat for a few silent moments and then heard her voice getting quieter and quieter as she walked away, still yelling for him.  
  
He and the blue-haired boy popped out of the straw (a/n: Like daisies! Sry, I just watched Mulan...) and stared at each other. Then, the boy's face went from confused to horrified.  
  
"Oh... you're the Prince. I am dead, aren't I?" he asked quietly.  
  
Matt just stared at the boy, who looked somewhat familiar. "Do I know you?"  
  
The boy shook his head, still fearful of his life.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
The boy still stayed silent.  
  
"Look, I'm not going to hurt you. It's just that you look so familiar and I want to know your name," Matt said calmly.  
  
"Ichijouji. Ken Ichijouji," he said shyly.  
  
Matt's eyes widened. "Ichijouji..." he whispered softly.  
  
...--- FLASHBACK  
  
"Come one, Sam, you slowpoke! We have to save the Princess!" a small blonde boy said.  
  
"Yeah. First one who gets her gets to kiss her!" a brunette yelled after him.  
  
The two boys stopped waving their wooden swords around and looked behind them. "Where'd he go?" the blonde asked.  
  
"Too bad I got the Princess! And I got the kiss before you could!"  
  
The two boys looked up to the 'castle', a large tree, and saw a blue haired boy holding a young girl's hand. "I won!"  
  
"What does that mean?" the brunette asked.  
  
"That means that the Princess and me are getting married and I'm going to be King. King Sam Ichijouji!"  
  
...---  
  
"My Prince... are you okay?" the boy asked fearfully, thinking he did something to hurt the Prince.  
  
"Are you... are you Sam's younger brother?" Matt asked him, amazed.  
  
"You... you knew Sam?" the boy, Ken, asked, his eyes tearful.  
  
"Yeah. We were friends. I used to play with him everyday. Until... until he just disappeared." Matt looked down at the ground, remembering his childhood friend.  
  
"He didn't disappear. He died. Years and years ago." Ken looked at the Prince, a new look of appreciation. "So you were Sam's mysterious friend. We always used to wonder... My parents would've loved to have been able to meet you."  
  
"They still can. I'd love to meet Sam's family." Yamato smiled at the young boy, but stopped when he didn't smile back.  
  
"They're all dead. That's why I'm here. I was sleeping in here until you... tripped over me." The boy looked down at the ground, ashamed of what he was. "Don't kick me out, please. I have nowhere to go."  
  
Matt stared at the little boy, about Takeru's age, remembering all the times he, Tai, and Mimi would play with his older brother Sam. "I'm not going to kick you out. Come with me." The Prince got up and started towards the castle.  
  
"What are you going to do?" Ken asked, once again fearful.  
  
"Well, I'm going to introduce you to tow other people who knew your brother, my little brother, who's about your age, and girl about your age." Matt smiled, then continued. "Then I'm going to talk to my parents and get you your own room in the castle and get you out of those clothes."  
  
Ken looked up amazed at the Prince and then smiled.  
  
"Is that okay?"  
  
"That's great!"  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
Matt plopped himself down on the chair, and glanced at the large wooden door of his chambers, making sure (for the fourth time) that it was securely latched. He didn't want Jun running into his room in the dead of night and...  
  
Well, he didn't want to think about that.  
  
After running away from her all day, talking to Sora, finding the younger brother of his childhood friend, introducing him to Tai, Mimi, Kari and TK, and just all together having to deal with being engaged to that monster, Yamato was 100% tired. Worn-out. Ready to just lay down and never wake up.  
  
That was only if he could dream of Sora for the rest of his life.  
  
However many times he told himself not to, he always fell for the beautiful faerie from another world. Something about her drew him closer and closer to getting his heart broken.  
  
"Please, Sora. Please don't let me fall in love with you."  
  
He got up and decided that he would go to the library and look for this book that Sora needed. *I don't care how hard this is going to be... I'm going to help her all I can.*  
  
The cold stone helped to wake him up from his half-dream state and he walked as quietly as he could down the corridors and especially quiet down the hallway where Jun and her family was staying. soon, he came to the library, but stopped when he heard two voices inside.  
  
"Takeru... I don't think there's going to be another one like this in here. Maybe this book is special. I mean, it only has one picture and the rest is blank..."  
  
("...looks like it's almost empty. Except for one picture of twelve children...")  
  
*The book!* He stood silent and waited for the two to continue talking.  
  
"It has to be, Kari. I mean, look at it! I just don't see why a book like this would be in our castle, that's all."  
  
Matt decided just to go in, and confront the two young teenagers. He wouldn't yell, just ask calmly for the book. And make sure they weren't doing anything else.  
  
"Kari, I don't know..."  
  
"Ahem. But I believe you two are supposed to be in bed," Matt said in his most adult voice he could. He almost smiled at the shocked look on the two faces.  
  
"Matt.. I ... we can explain..." TK started.  
  
"I don't want to hear you explain. I just need that book you have. A friend of mine is looking for it everyway." He smiled and stepped towards them.   
  
"No! We found it! You can't have it Matt!" Kari stepped in front of TK, who was trying to protect her. "You can't be mean like that Matt."  
  
He sighed and looked at the two. "Okay, here's the deal. My friend needs this book. Now. So, you give me the book and go to bed, or I tell Tai where you two were all day. And don't think I didn't see you going into the forest. So what's it going to be?'  
  
TK and Kari looked at each other, knowing what they had to do. "Okay, you can take it," Takeru said.  
  
"Thank you. Now go to bed."  
  
he sighed as the two ran out of the library and he grabbed the book off of the table.  
  
"So let's see who these children are..."  
  
He opened the book and gasped at the twelve Chosen Children.  
  
"Oh God..."  
  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
always,  
lily-angel 


	5. Confession

Heeheehee. Out with another chapter already! I don't know what it was... I just had an inspiration and here I am, writing this at 2 o'clock in the morning. So, I didn't get that many reviews for the last chapter, but that's okay with me. This one goes out to the reviewers, of course: Silver Horizon, kOorI cHaN, Regulus, and Synthetic Iris. Thanks for all your help and I hope you enjoy this one. I'll probably get the next one out within a week or so, since it's a four-day weekend and all...  
  
Happy Thanksgiving, folks!  
  
..::--*--::..  
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."   
- Antoine De Saint-Exupery  
  
Willow, Chapter Five: Confession  
..::--*--::..  
  
  
A young girl stood in the corridor, gazing out the window at the rising sun. She loved just to wonder how many colors there actually were, and how beautiful the morning light was.  
  
"Hikari, what are you doing up so early?" A blonde boy, about her age, walked up to her and leaned on the windowsill, gazing like she was. "Ah, watching the sunrise as usual?" he asked her.  
  
"You know me too well, TK. Have you met Prince Daisuke yet? Last time we saw him was when we were, what, nine?" She looked at the boy next to her to see if she was right.  
  
"Yep. Nine. He was fun then. Remember we played in the kitchens and the cooks yelled at us for covering ourselves in flour. We were pretending to be ghosts." He smiled at the memory.  
  
"Oh yes! And my mother wouldn't let me out of my room for a week because she blamed it all on me. She never thought young princes would cause so much trouble."  
  
"But me and Davis climbed up a ladder by your window and helped you out. You were so surprised to us and then he said...."  
  
"My Princess I have come for you!" a voice behind them said. Both of the young teens turned around to see a well-dressed Prince, with Indian red hair smiling at them.  
  
"Daisuke!" they both said, surprised.  
  
"Kari, my love. And... um... TP..." he said, having trouble with Takeru's name.  
  
"TK, Davis. You never could get that right," Takeru said, a hint of jealousy at what Daisuke had said. "So, Davis, how have you been?" he asked, but Davis wasn't listening.  
  
"Kari, my darling. You look so radiant. It must be the sunlight, making you look like an angel," Daisuke said to her, and then placed his arms possessively around her waist. "Maybe you and I could get married, just like Jun and Matt."  
  
"Hey, Davis. Stop that!" Takeru said, getting behind Hikari.  
  
"Davis, get off of me. You're hurting me..." Kari said, trying to pull him off of her.  
  
"It's okay, Hikari, you're my angel. We're meant to be together." Davis pulled her closer and Kari coughed, from Daisuke squeezing her too hard.  
  
"Daisuke! Get off of her!" Takeru said, now pulling Davis's hands from around Hikari and freeing her. She ran behind Takeru, scared.  
  
"What are you doing, TM? Me and Kari are meant to be, so why don't you just butt out? You're just jealous she doesn't want you." Davis smirked at him, trying to taunt him.  
  
"Obviously she doesn't want you either, Davis, since she ran away from you." Takeru turned around and held Hikari's shoulders. "Come one, let's go find Tai, okay?"  
  
Hikari sniffled softly, still afraid of what had happened. With TK's arm around her shoulder, they started to walk down the now bright corridor.  
  
"Wait just a second!" Davis said, and then Takeru cried out in pain.  
  
Kari turned around to see Davis holding out his sword, now with a thin line of blood on it. She looked down and saw TK knelling in pain, holding his shoulder. She saw his shirt cut and covered in blood.  
  
"Don't you dare, my Prince," a gentle voice said from behind him.  
  
Daisuke turned around just in time to see a blue haired boy knock the sword out of his hand and grabbed his arms, holding them behind his back.  
  
"Ken! Thank you so much!" Kari said, immediately at Takeru's side. "Are you okay?"  
  
TK got up slowly, saying he was fine. He walked up to where Ken was holding Davis and just stared at him. "You coward," he said, then punched him fully in the eye.  
  
"Takeru!" Kari said, shocked at the sudden show of violence from her normally gentle friend.  
  
TK turned around, with a look of regret on his face. "I'm sorry, Kari. I couldn't help it."  
  
Hikari grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hall to her room, calling out to Ken, "Take Prince Daisuke back to his room. I'm going to take care of TK's arm."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Have you seen Yamato-kun? I haven't seen him all day! The banquet, when our engagement and our love is to be proclaimed for all to know, is tonight and I don't know what he's wearing!" Jun circled the room, playing nervously with her hair.  
  
"I've told you, Jun, I haven't seen him since yesterday when he was trying to kill you with a stick. Now can you please leave me alone? I'm trying to treat Takeru's wounds\ here." Kari glanced up quickly at the older girl, then went back to her work, tenderly bandaging the cut.  
  
"How did you get that, Takeru, little brother? I wasn't listening before." Jun looked at him with distaste, but a thirst for gossip.  
  
"From your brother. Daisuke." TK gasped from pain and Kari quickly apologized. "I would've hurt him, too, if Hikari and Ken hadn't stopped me. He is so lucky he had a sword and I didn't."  
  
Hikari shook her head and applied more medicine to the wound, which got another cringe from Takeru. "Well, I know he deserved it. I was about to hit him myself, but he's visiting royalty, Takeru. That would not look good for you or your brother."  
  
"Hello?! Your brother's fiance here. What did Davis do?" she paced some more, suddenly not wanting to find Yamato.  
  
"He tried to hurt Kari! He grabbed her around the waist and hugged her, saying she was his. When she told him to let go, he wouldn't! What was I supposed to do, sit and watch?!" TK spat out in anger, all the while remembering that morning. He looked tenderly at Kari, who was finishing up the bandage.  
  
"Violence isn't always the answer, Takeru. You know that," she said, tying up the cloth and standing up.   
"I do thank you for helping, however, try talking next time, okay?"  
  
Takeru nodded and stood up next to her. "Do you think I should go apologize? I bet he's got a pretty bad black eye."  
  
Kari chuckled softly. "Yes, go apologize. You guys need to be friends first if you're gong to be brothers."  
  
"So what does this have to do with Yamato-kun?!" Jun cried from the corner.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"The Princess is being irresponsible and hasty about this! She shouldn't be trusted with it all by herself. I don't see why the council doesn't have all of us helping her! She's going to keep going on, flouncing around with that blonde and not get any work done!"  
  
"You shouldn't be so hard on her, Jyou. She is young still and is already a Princess. Sora is doing the best she can. Not many faeries have to deal with the mortal world, and she's taking it as best as possible," a young boy told an older man, who was sitting across from him on a long, wooden table, covered with plates of food.  
  
"Iori, you wouldn't understand. You're too young. Sora and I were... we were engaged at one time. She broke it off so she could work on this legend of the Chosen Children." Jyou shook his head, remembering those painful times. "I actually think she didn't want to go through with it."  
  
The young brunette and the older blue-haired man were seated at a lavish dinner, accompanied by two others. Both were tutors and researchers of the mortal world.  
  
One was a young girl, looking like a mortal of fourteen or fifteen years. She had long purple hair and bright eyes. Just looking at her told others that she was not to be doubted.  
  
The other was older, maybe sixteen. He had short red hair and was shorter than most, but was very, very intelligent and the leading faerie mind on the mortal world. He was the girl's mentor and teacher.  
  
"Jyou, you know as well as I do that your betrothal to Sora was Gennai's doing. He wanted someone to protect her. Sora is an independent person, and no one can make her commit to something she did not want," Koushiro, the red head, said.  
  
"I agree completely with Izzy. I mean, think about it. She wants adventure, a spontaneous lifestyle where anything can happen and she has that right now. Sora is happy, and we should be happy for her."  
  
"Miyako, you don't understand. I love... loved her. All I wanted to do was to protect her and give her something she could depend on. Nothing more. I wasn't going to stop her from her life. But this Prince... Prince Yamato! I don't understand why she and Gennai are so interested in him of all people." The man shook his head again and picked at the food on his plate. *And I don't understand why she even needs to know him. She's going to...*  
  
"None of us understand it. But when the time comes, both her and Gennai will be able to explain it all to us. We do not have to worry about her. Sora is a strong faerie. She can handle anything." The young boy, Iori, looked upon his friends as they nodded in agreement. "For now, let us eat and be comfortable in our home."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
Yamato ran down the hallway, minutes before the sun would rise. Under his arm was the book he had found the night before; the book Sora had asked him for. The book that showed the twelve Chosen Children.  
  
The book that showed himself.   
  
He was shocked to look at the colorful picture, drawn years before he was born, only to find himself as one of the Children. His little brother, Mimi, Tai, Tai's little sister, Ken, and Jun's younger brother were also in it. He had to find out what sort of cruel joke this was. He had to go see Sora.  
  
He would've left the moment he found the book, but it was after sunset and the gates were closed and guards were at every other exit. So he waited till dawn, when the gates would be open once more to merchants.  
  
Swiftly, he ran down the halls he knew so well, until he came to the door that led to the stables. He grabbed Starlight's bridle and got her out of the stall, quickly brushing her down.  
  
"Come on, girl. We've got some questions for the Princess."  
  
They rode together out the gates and across the meadow to the edge of the Odaiba forests, his father's royal hunting grounds. Through the trees and brush, down the path both knew by heart, until they came to the well-known clearing and the immense, gleaming willow tree.  
  
Yamato jumped down from Starlight's back, even before she had fully stopped. He walked, now angry with the Princess and her kingdom, wanting to know answers. He flung the branches away from him and saw her, sitting on a low branch, her head in her hands and her red hair falling in front of her.  
  
He threw the book on the ground close to her and walked towards her, his eyes flashing.   
  
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Yamato pointed hastily at the book now on the ground and then pointed to her. "Why didn't you tell me who the Chosen Children were? Why didn't you tell me I was one? That you were one?!" he spit out at her, anger filling up his normally ice blue eyes.  
  
Sora carefully picked up the book and flipped through the pages, until she came to that one, colorful pictures. Matt heard a small gasp escape from her lips as she looked at the page. "How was I supposed to know? Even we didn't know who the Chosen Children were... I would've told you if I knew." she continued to stare at the picture, intent on her and Yamato's faces.  
  
"But I know most of them! Prince Daisuke, me, my little brother, Tai, Mimi, Ken, Kari, you... that's eight! There's only four others!" He pointed again to the book she was still holding, still staring at. "Eight people I know that are in a book more than fifty years old and in a legend from another world! What are the odds that whatever you guys are fearing or whatever the hell it was, is coming right when that... that... monster Jun decides she wants to be married to me? Too many coincidences if you ask me." He sat on the ground, calming himself down from the adrenalin he had worked up in his system.  
  
"Koushiro, Miyako, Iori, Jyou," she whispered softly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"They're faeries... Izzy, Yolei, Cody and Joe. The other four." She turned the book towards him and pointed to the four figures as she said their names. "We know who all twelve are." She sighed, and looked up sadly at the Prince.  
  
"Sora? What's wrong?" His previous anger had faded quickly, and he was worried about the Princess. "Isn't this what you need? Isn't this what you and Gennai were looking for?" He walked up to her and knelt before her, like he had always done. "What's the matter?"  
  
Sora turned to a blank page and stared at it. "This is what I needed..." she whispered, more to herself than to him. "This is it." She continued to stare at the blank page, reading words that weren't there, as Matt tried to understand.  
  
"What is it? There's nothing..."  
  
"Nothing there to mortal eyes." Sora quickly looked up from her reading and glanced at his confused look. "It tells of a secret that only one faerie has ever found. It tells of how to leave the boundary of the magick in the mortal world and walk around freely. I needed to find this... and use it."  
  
"So you wanted me to find this so you can leave this tree, didn't you?" Yamato leaned in closer to her. "So... what are you going to do once you can walk around this mortal world," he asked, waving his hand around to show the place they were in.  
  
Sora stayed silent for a few moments, still reading the invisible wording. "I... I don't know. There were a few things I wanted to do that we don't have in my world... but never mind about that..."  
  
"Aw, come on, Sora! You can tell me. I mean, I am the one person you know who knows the most about the mortal world. After all, I live here." He flashed a charming smile at her and the depressed look on her face disappeared. "Come on, Sora... please?"  
  
She smiled faintly and looked him seriously in the eyes. "What's the one thing you're afraid of, Matt?" she asked quietly, but firmly.  
  
"The one thing I'm afraid of?" He thought to himself, whether he should really tell her or make something up, to make himself seem stronger than he was. He pondered, and she watched him with a sort of half fascination of this being so close to her, yet so far away. "The one thing I'm afraid of is losing someone I love. I'm afraid that my little brother will fall in love with Hikari and get his heart broken if it doesn't work out. I'm afraid my father won't let me compete in the trials to see if I'm as good as I think I am and to prove that just because I'm a Prince doesn't mean I get away with no training. I'm afraid I'm going to..." he trailed off at that word, knowing what he was going to say. "I'm afraid of a lot of things."  
  
Sora nodded and looked at him carefully. "I have to find out what I'm afraid of." She closed the book and placed it on a branch of the tree, and then looked at him again.  
  
"Why is that? Don't you know already know?" Matt looked at her quizzically.   
  
"I do, but I don't want to have to do it..." she looked down at the ground, trying to think.  
  
Yamato looked even more confused than ever and just stared at her. "What are you talking about, Sora? You're the strongest person I know."  
  
Sora just kept staring at the ground and sighed. "I'm so scared, Matt..."  
  
He moved in closer to her, blocking her view of the ground. "Sora, what's wrong? I have to be able to help you in some way..."  
  
"Do you know what I'm afraid of?" She looked him in the eyes and turned her head to the side, a sign she wanted an answer.  
  
"Pink bunnies?" He smiled when she smirked slightly and then shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Sora. What are you afraid of?"  
  
"This."  
  
Sora leaned forward, closing the space between them. Then in one moment, she gently placed her lips on his, clumsily, almost hastily. Matt sat there, for one confused second, taking in what had happened. He began to kiss her back, passionately, and wrapped his arms around her. For them, the world had stopped and they were kissing and letting out those feelings that had been bottled inside for those few short days. Regretfully, Sora pulled away from him very slightly, her lips still trembling on his.  
  
"I'm free," she whispered, and then collapsed, unconscious, into his arms.  
  
..::--*--::...  
  
always,  
lily-angel 


	6. Elusion

Another chapter! Ugh, what is wrong with me? Six chapters and I haven't gotten one single joust of writer's block yet. That is really strange for me. This one's a little shorter than all the rest, but I think you'll like it. And I'm sad to say it, but Sorry Doesn't Cut It is sort of on hiatus. I don't know what to do next and instead of ruining it with some stupid chapter, I'm just going to wait. Sorry!   
  
Anywho, to all the reviewers: kOorI cHaN, Synthetic Iris, Act * Princess Love, Digiwizardess, and of course, Silver Horizon. And, in response to the reviews and e-mails I got, I know that magick is NOT spelled with a 'k' at the end, but that is both the Irish/Celtic spelling (and I'm Irish!) and it distinguishes between stage magic, like making a rabbit disappear, and the real stuff. Sorry I didn't explain that before.  
  
..::--*--::..  
"Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun." - Matt Groening (doesn't really have to do with the chapter, but I liked it)  
  
  
Willow, Chapter Six: Elusion   
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"What do you mean, you don't care?" Takeru stared at his brother in disbelief.  
  
"I mean, I don't care! You and Kari are free to do whatever you want. I don't care. I can tell you two care for each other and as long as you treat her well and neither of you get hurt, I don't care." Matt looked at TK, hoping he wouldn't get angry with him. "But I need you to help me with something."  
  
Takeru stood there for a moment, thinking. "Alright. What do you need?"  
  
Yamato smiled and motioned for Takeru to follow him down the hallway. "Something... has come up. I can't make it to the banquet tonight. There are things I have to take care of. Can you cover for me? Tell Mother and Father that I got sick? Anything?"  
  
TK looked at him in surprise. "You know as well as I do that they won't let you skip this, even if you were dying! And Jun... if I told her you were sick, she would try and find you and take care of you and nurse you back to health. I'm dumbfounded that you would even ask. What came up?"  
  
Matt sighed and stopped at a door at the end of the corridor. "I knew you would ask that." He moved to open the door, but then stopped suddenly. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone about what's in here. Not even Hikari."  
  
Takeru nodded and Matt slowly and quietly opened the door. TK watched as he walked inside and sat on the large bed inside. When he looked closer, he saw a young woman lying asleep under the blankets.  
  
"Where did she come from?" Takeru asked, walking inside the room and towards his brother. "Who is..." he trailed off.  
  
Matt nodded, as he knew what his sibling was thinking. He slipped his hand carefully into hers and kissed it gently.  
  
"She's in that book! The one you took from me and Kari! She was in there... that is so weird..." Takeru said, shocked and amazed at the same time.  
  
"Her name is Sora. There's more I have to explain to you, but now is not the time. I have to take care of her, TK. I don't know what's wrong with her... she's been like this for hours. And the banquet is in two hours. I can't go and leave her here. You have to help me."  
  
Takeru looked on at his brother. He had never seen Yamato this distraught over anything since Sam disappeared. And he had definitely never seen him care this much for a woman. "Alright. I'll try my best. I might need help from Kari, but I won't tell her why. Don't worry about it, Matt. I'll help."  
  
Matt smiled weakly and nodded at him. "Thank you." He stood up, gently placing Sora's hand next to her. "Thank you so much, TK."  
  
Takeru nodded again and started to walk out. Yamato followed him, regretfully, and made sure that she would be alright while he was gone.  
  
"Matt, can I ask you something?" TK asked quietly as his brother shut the door.  
  
Yamato looked at TK and nodded. "Go ahead."  
  
"Do you love her?"  
  
Matt was silent for a few moments, looking off into nothing, remembering the past few days. He had not known her for long, yet felt like he had met her before. Something about this girl, this faerie, was drawing him to her. And now... now he wasn't going to fight it.  
  
"Yes. I love her with all of my heart."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
Jun wrung her hands nervously as she waited for Daisuke to get back. She had sent him out more than an hour ago to find Yamato, who was a little lost at the moment. Not that she would tell them that...  
  
"Daisuke!!" she yelled into the hallway, unable to see him. She paced again, played nervously with her hair, and sighed. "Where are you?!"  
  
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't yell! I'm right here," the red head said calmly. His expression changed quickly however, when he saw the look on his older sister's face. "Um... well, I know you sent me out to find Matt, but you see... I really couldn't. I couldn't find Hikari, either, like you told me to, so um... I'm going to go now." He spun on his heel and was ready to bolt out the door when Jun grabbed his collar.  
  
"What do you mean, you can't find him?" she asked, her voice trying to hind the anger within her.  
  
"He's no where to be found... lost... not in the castle at the moment, but feel free to leave a message and I'll be sure he gets it..." he chuckled softly, but stopped as soon as Jun shook him violently.  
  
"This is no laughing matter! The master will to be happy to know that he's not with me! Both of our necks are dead if you don't find the both of them. You have to separate those two... Takeru and Hikari... soon they all will know who the Chosen Children are and if those two are together, then our whole plan is wiped out! Just be glad that that stupid Yamato Ishida doesn't know that idiotic faerie girl, or we'd have no chance what so ever. Now, go! Find those two and keep Hikari to yourself during the banquet... then keep her with you all night." Jun let him go and he smoothed out his clothing. "I'm not going to the banquet unless you find Yamato. I'll be here if you need me."  
  
"I don't know why you're making me do this... Hikari and TK were my friends. I don't want to hurt them just for some stupid monsters that no one even knows exist for sure..." he mumbled on his way out the door.  
  
"What did you say?!"  
  
"Nothing! I said I'm on my way, Jun. I'm on my way!"  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Sora... please wake up. I don't know what's wrong with you... but please, don't stay like this forever..." Yamato stroked her hand gently and then placed it at her side once more. "I don't want to leave you, Sora. But if you don't wake up soon... my parents may find you and I'll have some major lying to do..."  
  
He looked at her sleeping face once more and then got up and went to the window, unable to take it. He didn't want to see her like this. Where was the girl he had met in the forest, with vivacity and energy to spare?  
  
He glanced back over to her and went to her bedside once more. "Please, Sora. I'm begging you. Wake up so we can find out what to do, now that we know who all of the Chosen Children are. Please. We need you... I need you..."  
  
He leaned over and kissed her softly, her lips still soft, even in deep slumber. "I love you, Sora. You can't leave me like this."  
  
Yamato got up and walked to the door, his arms folded in front of him. "I don't know what to do anymore..."  
  
"Matt..." he heard a weak voice whisper. He turned around and saw Sora reaching her hand out to him. "Matt, where am I?"  
  
He smiled and ran to her, hugging her gently. "We're... we're in my castle, Sora. Do you remember what happened?"  
  
She nodded. "I read the book.... and the passage that told me how to become mortal... I had to face my biggest fear and overcome it... I kissed you. I overcame my fear... so now I'm not bound." Her eyes widened as she said this. "I'm... I'm mortal..."  
  
Matt looked at her, shocked. "Mortal? How did kissing me make you mortal?"  
  
"My biggest fear... falling in love with someone. I overcame it... so now I'm mortal. I'm not a faerie anymore." Her eyes weld up with tears. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this. I was supposed to still have my powers."  
  
Matt panicked and took her hand in his. "Please don't cry, Sora. I don't have experience with crying. I... won't know how to handle the emotional trauma... please don't put me through that, Sora. Please!" he begged her.  
  
She smiled faintly and the tears didn't fall. "What am I supposed to do?"  
  
Yamato sat and thought for a few moments and a smirk came across his face. "You're supposed to come with me to the banquet."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"So you're not going, Kari?" Takeru asked her, a little disappointed.  
  
"No. I don't want to... Davis is going to be there and he's probably going to hurt me again... I'm so scared Takeru. I've never been scared like this before..." She ran over to him and put her arms around him. "Please, TK. Stay here with me in the tower until I can go back to my room.."  
  
TK's eyes filled with both love for Kari and hatred for Daisuke as he held her tightly close to him. "Don't worry, Kari. I care too much about you to give you up without a fight."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Who is that lovely girl Yamato is dancing with, dear?" The Queen leaned to the side and pointed to the pair twirling gently on the dance floor.  
  
"I do not know, dear. But it seems to me that he's enjoying himself..." the King replied.  
  
...:::  
  
"I can't believe we're getting away with this, Matt..." she whispered nervously to him.  
  
"Don't worry, Sora. If anybody asks, you're from a kingdom down south. Avoid specific questions, alright? I'll take care of everything else..."  
  
The couple swayed slowly to the music, his hands holding her possessively at the waist and hers at his shoulders. Her emerald gown, that Matt had graciously stolen out of Mimi's closet, brushed at her feet lightly and she looked beautiful in the normal, everyday gown that mortals usually wore.  
  
But that's not what made her beautiful to him. To him, the dress didn't matter. Even if she was still wearing the plain white dress he had first seen her in, she would be the most stunning woman he had ever met.  
  
"Matt... remind me why I let you talk me into this again."  
  
Matt looked down into her scarlet eyes and smiled. "Because I'm just so darn cute... and because I have to at least make an appearance. If I just totally skipped it, like my brother said, my parents would lock me in my chambers until I did get married... which is a totally hideous thought, if you ask me."  
  
She grinned and asked him: "What, the getting married part, or the part of you getting married to Jun?"  
  
"Both. I don't want to get married until the trials... and Jun's just the scariest thing there is on this planet."  
  
Sora laughed and Matt smiled; he loved to make her laugh. He loved to make her do anything. He loved her, period.  
  
They both were silent for a moment and then Sora pulled him closer to her. "Thank you, Yamato."  
  
The tone in which she said his full name sent chills up Matt's spine. Good chills, but chills. "Why? What did I do?"  
  
"You're making this whole mortal thing not so terrifying. I mean, inside I am scared that something will happen before I can get my powers back, but I'm not so scared for myself anymore. As long as you're here, I don't have to worry at all..." She blushed momentarily at the emotions she portrayed and looked down from Yamato's cerulean eyes for a moment. "Thank you."  
  
Mat smiled and slowly bent down and kissed her. Just a simple, short kiss, but loving none the less. "You're welcome."  
  
...:::  
  
"Oh my goodness, honey, did you just see that?" The Queen pulled on her husband's sleeve quickly and pointed towards her son and the mysterious girl.  
  
"See what?" the King asked, a little annoyed at his wife's outburst.  
  
"He kissed her! Yamato just kissed that girl!"   
  
That got the King's attention. "What?! What are you talking about?! I don't see anything!!"  
  
"Oh, honey, calm down. Don't get angry. Maybe that's why Matt doesn't want to go through with the wedding. Maybe that's why he keeps running away. Maybe we were too hasty... I mean, if he's fallen in love..."  
  
"Codswallop. Even if he is in love with this girl, unless she's a Princess, which I highly doubt, she's not going to marry my son. End of discussion." He looked at his wife to make sure she understood. "That means no meddling."  
  
The Queen nodded and looked back over to Yamato. "They're gone!"  
  
...:::  
  
Matt looked up at his parents and saw his mother pointing towards them and exclaiming something to his father. "Uh-oh..." he said softly.  
  
"What?" Sora looked up at him worried and then followed his gaze to the King and Queen, who were now in a discussion. "What's wrong, Yamato?"  
  
Matt turned quickly and ran out the door, with Sora's hand in his. "Come on... we have to go hide somewhere for the night... my parents are going to want to kill me now..."  
  
"Matt! Stop!" Sora stopped suddenly and jerked Matt's hand towards her. "What's the matter?"  
  
"My parents saw us. We have to go somewhere to stay for the night... they're going to look all over the castle, so we're not safe here. I don't know where to go...."  
  
Sora just looked at him plainly and said simply: "Gennai's."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
-Dearest Sora:-  
  
-Haha! I knew you would come here. Actually, I'm in Mendai right now.-  
-So you'll just have to stay here for the night. Which I also knew was -  
-going to happen. I bet Matt's with you right now, too. Ha! I am too -  
-good. And I'll do one more. You're wondering why you don't have your-  
-powers anymore. Don't worry about, my friend. Don't worry. Stay here-  
-for the night and all of us will talk in the morning.-  
  
-Gennai-  
  
"Um... okay. So I guess we're staying here, then?" Matt said nervously after reading the note.  
  
Sora nodded. "I guess so."  
  
They walked inside of the large, grass and wood hut to find that it was actually rather comfortable. There was a table, two chairs, a large metal pot to cook food in and a huge, blanket covered bed.  
  
"Well... are you hungry?" Matt asked, walking over to the pot.  
  
Sora laughed at him. "Do you even know how to use one of those?"  
  
Matt shrieked in pain as he dropped the heavy pot on his foot. "Well... no. But it can't be that hard, can it?"  
  
She laughed again and walked over to him. "Yes, it is. And I'm not hungry at all. I just want to sleep after all of that walking to get here. Who builds a house in the middle of a forest?"  
  
"I don't know," Matt said. "Who lives in a tree?"  
  
Sora smirked at him. "Touché."  
  
Both of them walked over to the bed and plopped themselves down on it. "Well, this is certainly big enough for both of us... I was actually hoping it would be smaller..." Matt grinned.  
  
"You wish, castle-boy," Sora said.  
  
"Castle-boy!? Castle-boy! I'll show you castle boy! Could a castle-boy do this?" He rolled over to her, threw her down on the down-filled quilts and held her arms above her head. "Who's who now, magick... lady..." he said uncertainly.  
  
"Magick lady. Nice one. Please get off of me, Matt before I am forced to punish you."  
  
"Punish me. I dare you."  
  
Sora smirked as she raised her head slightly and kissed him full on the lips. Yamato immediately let go of her hands and lowered himself closer to her. The kiss grew and grew, until both of their lungs were begging for air.  
  
Sora rolled into his arms and he held her tightly. "Don't let me go, Matt..." she said softly.  
  
"I won't, Sora. I won't."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
always,  
lily-angel 


	7. Restoration

Finally. Seems like my writer's block spell is broken, and all it took was several packages of Tylenol and cold medicine! And a day of skipped school... and four feet of snow... but other than that...  
  
Sorry this took so long. The next chapter won't take long, I promise! Or, rather, I think. Anywhoz, this chapter goes out to:  
  
Silver Horizon, yume no miko, kOorI cHaN, SilentStalker, Numb, DawnHope, Pissed Off Misfit, BlueWolf, scorpion05, and everyone else who reviewed!  
  
If you want to ask about something, or just want to tell me something about the story, e-mail me at the address at the end. I love hearing from people, good or bad. On with the fic...  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
Willow, Chapter Seven : Restoration  
  
"Love is the immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends, and preserves. Its eternal goal is life." - Smiley Blanton  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
The sun rose softly in the eastern sky, its rays gently falling upon the faces of two lovers, still sleeping in their own dream worlds. The world around them awoke to a new day, while they laid happily in the false reality of their dreams.  
  
The first to awake was the man, his blue eyes blinking into the sunlight. For a few dazed moments, he looked around him and didn't recognize the place he was in. But then his gaze fell on the girl in his arms and he relaxed and smiled.  
  
He laid his head back down gently, hoping not to awake her from her sleep. He looked at her, his heart full of his love for her and his eyes full of his admiration of her strong spirit. He kept his arms around her, fulfilling his promise of never letting her go. No, he knew that he would never let her go... she was his world now.  
  
His smile grew as he saw her eyes fluttering open. She, too, blinked while she tried to remember where she was and then her cinnamon eyes met his.  
  
"Morning," he told her quietly.  
  
They both sat in content silence for a few moments, staring into each others eyes. Sora smiled, her eyes gleaming with happiness. "I can't think of anything that could make this moment better."  
  
Matt kissed her gently and then sat up. He glanced out the window and saw that the sun was still rising. Dawn... they must've noticed he was gone by now. And, he was hoping, Gennai would get here soon and explain the mess he had gotten himself into.  
  
Sora watched the man in front of her carefully, studying the thoughtful look on his face. She slipped her hand into his and gave him an affectionate squeeze. Right about now they both needed comforting.  
  
"So what do we do?" Sora asked softly.  
  
Matt laid back down next to her and sighed. "I don't know. We have to wait for Gennai, I know that much. Maybe he'll explain this all and how you could... get your magick back."  
  
"Yes, that's what we do now, but what about later? The Children have been found and the darkness is still coming. And how are we supposed to fight this... this... this thing when we have to weapons strong enough? And if we do defeat it..." she stifled a sob and it's oncoming tears as she said it, "what do you and I do?"  
  
He brushed stray hairs away from her eyes and held her chin in his hand. "What do you mean?"  
  
"What will we do? Where will we go? How will we live? No one's going to let us just live our lives..." A single tear fell from her eyes and she buried herself in Yamato's arms. "No one's going to let you marry a faerie..."  
  
Matt's eyes widened at the truth of her words. His parents... they would never understand; they themselves were forced into marriage. Where would they go? "Shh.... it's okay, Sora. We don't have to worry about that now. Just know that I love you and..." Matt stopped suddenly and turned his head towards the door.  
  
"Matt... what..." she started to ask, but quieted when Matt looked at her. He got up off of the bed and walked silently towards the noise he had heard.  
  
Suddenly, the door flew open and a man was standing there, regal in his violet and crimson robes. A sword glittered at his side and he held a rolled parchment in his hands. At the sight of Yamato, he bowed formally.  
  
"My Prince... we are glad to see you safe. We had thought that the witch had..." the man stopped as he saw Sora sitting on the bed.  
  
"Matt, who are these people?" Matt looked past the man in the doorway and saw four more, dressed exactly like the first.  
  
"Royal guards," he muttered. "What business do you have and what witch are you talking about?"  
  
The guard, still bowing, shot a glance towards Sora. "Her, my lord, the woman your fiancée saw drag you into the woods late last night."  
  
Yamato looked over at Sora, who was thinking the same thing. Jun saw them last night, and was now getting back at Matt for leaving her. "I regret to inform of this, but I was not dragged out here. I came of my own free will..."  
  
"Ah, but my lord, we've already been warned of this. The witch has an enchantment cast over you. We have a warrant." The guard, who Yamato recognized as the captain, unrolled the parchment in his hands. "Sora Takenouchi, you are under arrest, by orders of Kings Ishida and Motymia, for conspiracy to kidnap His Highness Royal Crown Prince Yamato Ishida," he read. "By request of Princess Jun Motymia, you are to be condemned to the dungeon until the court can decide your fate. You are also accused, by the Princess Jun, of witchcraft and the use of dark magicks." The captain motioned to the other four. "Arrest her."  
  
The guards slowly walked towards her as she slipped off of the bed and went towards Yamato. They reached out in an attempt to grab her, but all were stopped by a flash of Yamato's blade.  
  
"Stay away from her. I won't let you touch her." He voice was deep and aggressive, and all the guards knew of his skill in battle. They backed down for a few moments.  
  
"What are you doing? You outnumber him four to one! Move the Prince aside and arrest the girl!" the captain snapped at them.  
  
"Sora... back up slowly," Matt whispered to her. He stood, his sword high and ready to protect her.  
  
(Stop! Stop it all!) Sora begged silently.  
  
The four guards slowly approached him, their swords glinting in the early morning sun.  
  
(Please... stop. Don't do it, Yamato... just let them take me...) Sora sank against the wall, dread filling her heart and draining her strength. Matt was amazing with a sword, yes, but no one could take on five fully-trained, experienced royal guards. She watched on in horror as the guards slowly and quietly came towards him. Her heart was pounding and her soul was screaming as her mind flashed and saw the only outcome from the pending fight.  
  
Death.  
  
(No... not now, not Yamato. I can't... I won't... I love him. Don't take him from me! I need him... I can't live without him.... the world can't live without him... Please don't take my true love!) "I love you Yamato. Please don't leave me," she whispered as a single tear rolled down her cheek and dropped onto the necklace she wore.  
  
She felt a comfortable warmth on her chest and looked down to see her necklace glowing as it had when she had her powers. Only now... only now it was a deep, crimson red. A pleasant heat ran through her veins and she stood up, strength running in her body. She calmly walked in front of Yamato, facing him and blocking him from the guards. Her face was impassive and Matt looked on in silence. She slipped her hand into his and looked up at him.  
  
"Now we leave, Yamato," she whispered as they both disappeared in a glitter of pinks and reds.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"My Prince, as much as I appreciate your asking, I am not going to the picnic for Jun and Yamato. I feel much more comfortable staying here in the castle with Prince Takeru."  
  
Daisuke looked at Hikari painfully. "Kari, you're staying here... with him?" he asked quietly, his voice ringing with jealousy.  
  
"Yes, Prince Daisuke." She spoke formally, all friendly feelings for Davis faded from her heart because of her fear. She used all formalities, as if she did not know him. "You should go, my Prince, and support your sister's engagement. If you'll excuse me, Prince Motymia, I must take leave of you." She bowed stiffly and walked towards the door, where Takeru was waiting for her. Slipping her arm into his, she shot once last glance of hatred towards Daisuke before walking away.  
  
Davis fell immediately to his knees. His childhood love, the one person he cared for most, hated him. Loathed him, with a passion.  
  
And it was all Takeru Ishida's fault.  
  
"You will pay, Ishida. You will pay."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"TK, can I ask you something?" Kari said quietly, as soon as they had left Davis.  
  
He looked down at her and nodded. "Go ahead."  
  
"Matt's in love with that girl he was with at the ball, isn't he? And that's why he ran away last night, so that they wouldn't get caught?"   
  
Takeru looked down at the girl, his mouth gaping. "Um... well, you see, I'm not supposed to..."  
  
"Don't worry. I won't say anything. And you never told me, so you don't have to feel guilty." She smiled at the taller blonde and slid her arm down so she could hold his hand. "You don't think I'm being too harsh with Daisuke, do you?"  
  
TK squeezed her hand to give her support. "You aren't being harsh at all. You were afraid of a close friend of yours hurting you. He's the one being harsh. Don't worry about it, Hikari. If he's sorry about it or if he still wants to be your friend, he'll apologize."  
  
Hikari nodded and looked down at the ground. "I just hope I didn't hurt him too much..."  
  
"Don't worry, Davis is strong enough to take it." TK led Kari farther down the hallway, until they came to a doorway leading to the gardens. "Would you like to take a walk in the morning sunshine?"  
  
Kari smirked and pulled him close to her. "Only if you'll tell me about Matt's mystery girl."  
  
"But... I can't... I promised...." TK started to protest, but was stopped by Hikari lightly placing her lips on his. It was a short kiss, but just enough to send a shock through Takeru's spine.  
  
"Be lucky that I'm not Taichi, or both of you would be in death's grasp," a voice from behind them said. The startled TK and embarrassed Kari turned to see the blue haired boy who had saved TK the day before.  
  
"Ken! It isn't... I didn't... We're not..." Kari tried to explain.  
  
"Sure you aren't. Don't worry, Tai's not going to find out from me. But I will take both of you up TK's offer and walk with you in the gardens," the boy said. Kari's eyes widened. That was a speech by Ken's standards; it was the most he had ever said since Matt brought him to the castle.  
  
She smiled and broke apart from Takeru. "Come on, TK. Let's take a walk with our new friend."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Master Izumi... I hate to bother you in the middle of your research..." a young female voice called from across the wide, open room.  
  
"Please, please, come in," he said as he motioned for the girl to come to him. "What is it, my dear Miyako?"  
  
The young faerie, looking about fifteen years old, smiled weakly at the man in front of her. "Jyou sends for you. He says... he say two mortals have come into our world," she told him quietly, the seriousness of the issue at hand hitting both of them.  
  
Koushiro Izumi stood, dumbfounded. He prided himself on knowing almost everything about the boundaries between reality and non, mortal and immortal. And yet now two humans had made it to the immortal realm of the fearies.  
  
Miyako cleared her though nervously, wanting to tell the red-headed faerie more.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Jyou also said that..." she drew a breath, "that one of the mortals is Princess Sora."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
always,  
lily-angel  
(faerie_princess08@yahoo.com) 


	8. Confrontation

Gah, you talk about writer's block being gone and then next thing you know it's almost four months before you update a new chapter. I'm hoping that some of you are still out there and my audience isn't gone!! That would suck...  
  
I'll spare you the pain and go right to dedications. This chapter goes to:  
  
Angela-Marie (for the longest review of ch. 7!), kOorI cHaN (because you're still there), Sorato4ever (for the 1st review of ch. 7), and deam-rose (I got a rating!). And to the anonymous reviews also (Marie and Lady Ishida... whether or not you were too lazy to actually log in).  
  
Here's chapter 8 and to hoping the next one doesn't take long!!  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
Willow, Chapter Eight : Confrontation  
  
by: lily-angel  
  
"Jealousy is the fear of comparison." - Max Frisch  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Sora!"  
  
Yamato dropped quickly to catch the young woman as her feet fell out from underneath her. He gently laid her on the soft ground and brushed the stray hair from her face. She was alright, he knew, and had just fainted. But from what? Exhaustion?  
  
It would make sense, she had just transported them to... to God knows where without her magick. It was enough to make anyone tired, he presumed.  
  
And then he took notice of his surroundings. The all-too soft ground, the grass an exotic shade of cerulean-green; the bright wildflowers, in colors too vivid and too bold for those of the earth he knew; the distant city, with its rainbow of roofs, all glinting in the soft sunlight. This wasn't Odaiba, at least not his Odaiba. His home city was crude, dirty, dark and gloomy. This was the exact opposite to that human, cold world he knew. And then he knew exactly where he was.  
  
Mendai.  
  
(But how, how..... Sora took us here, but why, and HOW... she doesn't have her powers, she said so herself, HOW HOW HOW and why is the bigger question....) Yamato's mind flipped from one thought to another as his reasoning became chaos. He decided to wait until Sora woke up, then ask questions.  
  
Looking back down at her, laying gently in his lap, he noticed the pendant around her neck, glowing a crimson red. (What in the hell....?) he thought as he reached to pick it up.  
  
But as soon as he touched it, he felt a slight heat and the crimson glow faded to a bright sea blue. Shocked, he pulled his hand back quickly, and the locket faded back to red. Again, he touched it and it was blue. He took his hand away, red. Blue. Red. Blue. Red. A quick purple while it faded to blue. Back to red. Blue. Red. Blue...  
  
"Having fun, Yama?"  
  
He jerked his hand back and looked at Sora, her eyes wide open and smirking in amusement.  
  
"Well, I was just... You see.... A scientific experimentation..." he stuttered.  
  
"Wow, Yamato, experimentation. Six syllables. Don't overdo yourself there, it might hurt." Sora sat up, glancing quickly at the locket, and continued to dust herself off.  
  
Yamato sighed, both happy that Sora and her sense of humor were alright and also irritated at the cheap shot she took at him. "Are you alright?" he asked as they both stood up.  
  
"Yes, thank you."  
  
"Good," he said, and then tackled her, the fall broken by the foreign earth. For a few moments they rolled around on the ground, Sora giggling at Yamato's childish behavior.  
  
"Ahem," said a voice.  
  
Sora and Yamato froze and looked up to see Jyou, with Koushiro, Miyako, and Iori, standing and staring condescendingly at the two playing lovers.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Believe me, Master, the Prince will not be missing for long. The discovery of the Chosen ones is close by... I just need a little more time." The voice was female, cold and sinister.  
  
((Time is not something that is come by easily, my servant. He's found the faerie, and now you must find him! His faerie lover must be killed. Without her, they will not be able to stop us. Seven days, and then your time on earth is spent. Seven days!)) The voice echoed without sound and the listener nodded intensely.  
  
"Master, please... UGH! Yes, yes, my Master. Seven days." The girl turned away from the dark shadows and glanced out the window and stepped into the sunshine. "Neither LadyDevimon nor Jun Motymia will fail." And their eyes flashed blood red.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Jyou! I... we... I don't know how we or he or either of us came...." Sora stammered. Yamato looked on in surprise; it was the first time he had seen her so unsure of herself.  
  
"No explanations right now, Princess. Gennai has sent us to bring you back to the palace." Jyou's voice was cold, pain flowing along each word. "Follow us, and bring the human with you." He walked off, all the others frozen in their places.  
  
The three other faeries looked at him, uncertain of his tone toward the mortal Prince. Sora looked at him with disgust, not knowing why he was being so rude. (This is so unlike him.)  
  
"Iori, please take Prince Yamato here to the courtyard. Stay with him until I come; I have to take care of our Royal Adviser." She ran after him, leaving Iori, Koushiro, Miyako, and Yamato all staring at one another.  
  
.:-*  
  
"Jyou! Jyou, stop," Sora called after the tall retreating figure.  
  
"Why should I? You're just going to go off and threaten the faerie world by bringing him here. So go and bring us all to an end. Tell the mortals about us and we'll be put into cages and shown for a profit!" Jyou turned quickly around and said, in an angry voice.  
  
Sora looked at him, confused. "What has got you like this, Jyou? I didn't mean to bring him here! He's one of the Chosen... just like you and me. And Izzy and Cody and Yolei. All of us. Something... something happened back at the cottage that brought both of us here. Without my magick. It's not my fault, nor is it his. Why are you acting like this?"  
  
Joe took a step towards her and sighed. "Why?" he said in a much calmer voice. "Why? Because we were worried about you. One minute you're on your way to becoming a member of the Council and then the next your breaking ties to people, meeting mortal princes, giving away your magick, and running away from Mendai. You're letting that Yamato to get to you, inside your head, and making bad decisions."  
  
"Wait, breaking ties?" Sora looked at him with anger flashing in her eyes.. "Jyou, don't use our failed engagement as an excuse for treating Matt like some second class dog! There is something else bigger than you or me or our past going on here and I don't see why you want to be so blind to it. As Princess of Mendai, I order that Prince Yamato Ishida will be treated as a member of the Royal family, and that includes the respect owed to the Takenouchi name. Is that clear?"  
  
"Sora, don't be like this...."  
  
"Is that clear? He will be treated as a member of the Royal family."  
  
Jyou stared at her, then glanced at the ground. "Yes, your Majesty."  
  
Sora turned to walk away, but hated leaving angry at him. She went back to him and whispered, "You are like a brother to me, Jyou. I love you, but not in a way that would have been demanded by us marrying. That is why I broke our engagement. You know as well as I that it was the right thing to do." She looked him in the eye, then walked towards the palace in the distance.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Tai! Taichi! They're gone!! They left! Poof!! Just up and gone!!!" Mimi glanced down the hallway at him walking away from her. "Where are you going? Don't you understand me? Didn't you see them? Matt and that girl he was with at the banquet? They're gone. The King told my mother this morning and the whole castle is on alert to look for them. A warrant has been put out, saying that the woman he was with was a witch. Jun even attested to it, saying she saw the girl, I think Sora was her name, put a spell on Matt. Maybe that's why he was acting so weird. Maybe he wasn't in love, but just under a spell. It would make sense, don't you think? Tai? Tai?! Say something!!" She ran after him and he soon stopped.  
  
"Mimi, what do you want me to say? No, I don't think it's true. I think he's really in love with her and Jun's just jealous so she said that Sora or whatever her name is is a witch. I think we have to ask Takeru about this so that is why I'm trying to find him but you're talking way too much." He saw the upset look on her face after his last comment, so he quickly kissed her. "I also think that you're just so worried that you're being like this."  
  
Mimi pushed him away softly and looked him in the eye. "If she's not a witch, and if Takeru knows about it, then why are we running down there to the garden, breaking him and Kari apart, and asking him about it?" she asked calmly.  
  
His eyes grew wide at the mention of his sister and TK together, and without a word raced down the corridor towards the palace gardens.  
  
"And he thinks he comes up with things by himself."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"...and your brother found me sleeping n the straw. That's all that happened. When my parents died I had to sell the house and all of our belongings to settle all of our old debts. I was left in the streets... until now." The boy smiled at his two listeners and continued walking through the flowers. "Enough about me, you haven't told me of you and Hikari, Prince Takeru."  
  
TK and Kari blushed lightly and TK cleared his throat. "I don't have a clue about what you're talking about."  
  
"Yes, that's what you say now." The trio stopped at they came to a stone wall, with a piece of parchment hanging on it.  
  
"What..." Takeru said softly as he pulled it off and read it. "'Warrant for Arrest: Sora Takenouchi, charged under orders of Kings Ishida and Motymia, with conspiracy to kidnap His Highness Royal Crown Prince Yamato Ishida. By request of Princess Jun Motymia, is to be condemned to the dungeon until the court can decide the fate. Sora Takenouchi is also accused, by the Princess Jun, of witchcraft and the use of dark magicks...'" He trailed off, crumpling the parchment in his hand and bolting for the door.  
  
"What's wrong?" Ken asked Kari.  
  
She looked just as confused as her new friend and thought about it for a few moments. (Jun's accusing some girl of kidnapping and witchcraft the day after he's seen with another woman... the one she wants arrested. It's not true... Jun's jealous and wants the other woman gone, and TK knows Matt's mystery girl. Now he's going to try and find them!) Her eyes went wide with the realization and she too ran for the door.  
  
"Oh, alright, everybody leave Ken."  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
"Sora."  
  
She turned to see Gennai standing in front of her. "Gennai! Where were you? Yamato and I... we were ambushed and then something went wacked with my necklace and then all of a sudden we were here and please you have to help me understand..." she sputtered out all at once.  
  
Gennai motioned her to quiet and for her to follow him. He walked past the courtyard where the others were sitting. Yamato got up to follow Sora, but she shook her head at him and he backed away reluctantly. They walked into an open room with few walls still in sight of the four faeries and Matt. Gennai looked at her with a smirk on his face and pride in his eyes.  
  
"Sora, you did a great and amazing thing back in the cottage. You may not have realized it, but you awakened powers hidden deep inside yourself... the power of a Chosen..." Gennai trailed, watching carefully at Sora's reaction, testing himself for the next bit of information. "The power of your crest, Love..."  
  
Her mind flashed in an instant: the verse carved in the willow's wood, the nine crests detailed, the last part about the Princess of Love and Prince of Friendship... it was her and... "That would make Matt's crest Friendship," she realized aloud. "But how did I... and when did I..." she murmured.  
  
Gennai smiled at the young Princess. "You don't remember?" Softly, but clearly, she heard her own voice echoing in her mind:  
  
[I can't... I won't... I love him. Don't take him from me! I need him... I can't live without him.... the world can't live without him... Please don't take my true love!]  
  
Sora stepped back, shocked. "That's what I was thinking when..."  
  
Gennai nodded. "And your power awakened to it." He held his hand out to her. Quizzically, she looked at him. Opening it, she saw a necklace exactly like those she and other faeries wore. Then all in an instant it came to her and she understood. He stepped closer to her and led her back out to the courtyard, where Koushiro, Jyou, Miyako, Iori and Matt were sitting, the faeries separate from the mortal Prince.   
  
Sora looked over her friends for a moment and then sighed. "Do they know?" she asked and Gennai shook his head.  
  
"Do I have to tell them?" and to this the sagacious man nodded. Sora acknowledged this and walked over to Yamato first, taking his hands in hers.  
  
"Friendship," she said, pressing the necklace into his hand. Yamato stared at her, confused for a second until the story inscribed on the tree came back to him, too. And then he, too, understood.  
  
Sora moved from Yamato to the younger faerie, Iori. Sora couldn't help but smile at the sight of her good friend, even though it had been barely a day since she'd seen him. She kissed his forehead and the boy looked up at her, bewildered. "Knowledge... and Reliability," she said to him.  
  
To Miyako she went, the young woman looking upon Sora with strange anticipation. Sora simply placed a sisterly hand on Miyako's shoulder and nodded to some unknown reservation. "Love... and Sincerity." Miyako shut her eyes in acknowledgment.  
  
Sora left her and went to Koushiro, sitting with an all-knowing smirk on his face. She just nodded to him and he said, "Knowledge." She took his hand in hers and held it affectionately, then moved on to Jyou.  
  
He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, knowing what was coming. The guilt at his actions earlier that day were catching up with him as she came closer. Sora looked him in the eyes and said quietly, "Reliability."  
  
She turned to the group, now linked by some magickal bond, now all the same. No longer faerie and mortal, Yamato didn't feel displaced anymore. "We're going to stay here tonight," Sora said. "And then tomorrow Yamato and I will go back to Odaiba and get the other six Chosen."  
  
And the other six sat and watched each other, with a new-found respect in their eyes.  
  
..::--*--::..  
  
truly and forever  
  
Lily! 


End file.
